PWH partnered with Resilience Frontiers to launch a film festival focused on climate resilience.
Credit: Uma MukhopadhyayPerry World House launched a film festival titled “Global Lens: Visions of Resilience” in collaboration with Resilience Frontiers, an initiative under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The film festival aims to highlight short films under five minutes in length and mainly features stories of climate resilience and an “Earth-positive” future. Submissions can be made until July 1.
In a written statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Richard Perry Professor and Director of PWH Michael Horowitz highlighted the festival’s ability to engage both academia and real-world policy.
“This collaboration between Perry World House and the UN's Resilience Frontiers on a film festival is a new way that Perry World House is bridging the gap between academia and the global policy world," he wrote. “Film is such a powerful medium, and we’re excited to work with our partners to spark creative thinking and insights on the future through this film festival.”
The winning film will be screened both on campus as well as during the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference later this year in Brazil.
“What we want to focus on with this film festival are ways that communities around the world are working to adapt to climate change, to fight climate change, and to be resilient in the face of huge climate emergencies," Marie Harf, executive director at PWH, said.
Peter Decherney, professor of Cinema and Media Studies and a faculty fellow of PWH, emphasized the role of film and media to explore the modern climate crisis.
“The Perry World House wanted to try to use art and culture broadly, to try to engage the policy issues that are part of their pillars,” Decherney said. “In general, policy and politics can seem like abstract issues. Sometimes they engage the world in very broad ways, or they take place over a very long time horizon. And I think what film can do is sometimes add a personal dimension or an emotional dimension to large issues.”
Harf echoed the ability of film to bring a sense of urgency and immediacy to the modern-day climate crisis.
“We are living in a climate emergency. We see it every day, and one of the best ways to highlight big global challenges that often feel very far away is through storytelling and bringing to the screen real life stories from around the world about how people are fighting climate emergencies,” Harf said.
PWH was established in 2016 to provide a public forum for international policy engagement and to foster a community for global citizens, audiences, and policy leaders. Last year, the center launched a research initiative to address international challenges regarding climate change and action.
“Our mission at Perry World House is to bring the world to Penn. So we're really looking for stories from across the globe, from people in every corner of the planet who are working to make their communities more resilient," Harf added.
Both Decherney and Harf launched this year's festival at the 13th annual Penn event at the Sundance Film Festival.
“I would love to see Penn students and faculty apply and I think one aspect that's important is that multimodal forms of engagement are more important than ever," Decherney said.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
