The USC Arts Climate Collective will be hosting their third annual Eco Film and Media Arts festival this Friday at the SCI 106 theater in the School of Cinematic Arts building.
The festival aims to showcase the films and other works of student filmmakers and creators across USC and select universities across the West coast. Their projects are all related to environmental issues such as climate change, environmental justice and sustainability.
Arian Tomar, a junior film production student and festival coordinator, believes what separates the Eco Fest from other festivals is its ability to transcend the film space.
“We really try to push the medium of filmmaking and consider the ways in which motion pictures can become something else entirely. A lot of our media art installations that we’re going to be having up this Friday for the festival, a lot of them have motion picture components.” Said Tomar. This change in medium also allows for a more personal viewing experience.
“They might be video or they might be entire films themselves, but there’s an added layer of technology, or the way that you interact with the installation, that heightens it from being something more than just an audio variable experience.” Tomar said.
He has been involved with Eco Fest since it started three years ago and says he still finds great value in participating.
“For me, this festival is just a really special opportunity to showcase the breadth of environmental stories that students across USC are interested in and to uplift many first time filmmakers who’ve never had their work screened anywhere.” So this is kind of like a way for us to incubate interdisciplinary artistic talent, to push the medium of motion picture further and to create new connections between artists and storytellers and everyone involved and invested in sustainability at the university.”
As a Minnesota native who grew up spending most of his time outdoors, Tomar’s path into environmental filmmaking is not what one might consider the traditional route. His passion for science and love of nature took him abroad where he studied environmental field science first hand. However, as he searched for ways to better engage in environmental awareness, he found himself gravitating towards his abilities as a visual storyteller.
“Among all of these, these incredible peers, I was the only artist, and so I really took that to heart, to say, like, if there is something special I have to offer our the environmental movement, it’s going to be through my passion for visual storytelling and my ability to tie together all my disparate interests, business, education, science, filmmaking, photography, to tie it all together and to sell a new vision for how we tell climate stories and how together everyone has a role to play in advancing climate change.”
Being a filmmaker in the environmental world has given Tomar a unique perspective on the intersection of the two. His newest film, “Hear her” will debut at the festival. This short film, which Tomar produced and Joshua Bennett Jacobs directed, is about a futuristic AI therapy session that reveals the cause for generational environmental decay in the year 2025. With AI tools on the rise, many are worried about the implications of its use. However, Tomar expressed his hope in AI to act as a tool for positive change.
“I really enjoy being able to tell a hopeful AI story and really leverage what it would mean to have an intelligence that can look at all of human history and all of human art and find a through line.
Environmental activism and film are two things that Tomar holds strong passions for. He talks about how creative minded people are important to driving change.
“I couldn’t be happier about the journey I’ve been on. It’s been a winding path, but it’s revealed to me that the path to climate action, to assist [in] long term sustainability, is by no means going to be a clear line. We’re going to need as many creative, hard working people as possible to see their role in the Climate Action Movement.”
To see Tomar’s short film, as well as other films and media arts projects, head to the Festival this Friday from 4pm to 8pm, and make sure to bring your ID for access to campus.