The effects of climate change are unfolding before our eyes as hurricanes, wildfires, floods, subzero temperatures, and tornadoes ravage the nation and the globe. Many communities who survive climate disasters do so with limited to no resources and are often struggling to recover before the next disaster hits.

In response, Working Films and our partners at California Rural Legal Assistance, the Houston Organizing Movement for Equity (HOME) Coalition, the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, the North Carolina Justice Center, the National Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, and the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (coordinated by the National Low Income Housing Coalition) are curating a compilation of stories that will highlight the current injustices, systems at play, and the solutions needed to prepare and respond to climate disasters. We are looking for short documentaries and fictional films that highlight the challenges of those vulnerable to climate disaster and lift up models for inclusive, equitable disaster recovery. The compilation will bring overlooked stories into the light and expose the historical inequities that are exacerbated when disasters hit. The series will both inform and catalyze conversation and action for just and inclusive disaster preparedness and recovery.

Filmmakers are invited to submit shorts or excerpts of feature length films. Documentary and fiction films will be considered. Screening rights fees will be paid to selected filmmakers. We will also provide free impact consultation and offer peer-to-peer networking and support opportunities for the artists included in the project. An emphasis will be placed on films that feature personal stories, as well as media made by people who are directly impacted by the systems and related issues at hand. We will consider a work-in-progress if it is at a strong stage, is reasonably audience-ready, and is short. Please do not apply if your film is not available for public use.

If your film can be described in one or more of the following ways listed below, please apply. Specifically we are looking for stories that:

SHOW THE IMPACT:

  • The impact of climate disaster on the most disproportionately impacted communities (i.e. people of color, undocumented residents, people with disabilities, older adults, low income communities).
  • The struggle to find a job, and other economic impacts after climate disaster.
  • Public health impacts of climate disasters.
  • The different experience of climate disaster in different areas (i.e. urban, rural, tribal, low-income areas)

REVEAL THE SYSTEMS AT PLAY:

  • The inadequacy and inaccessibility of emergency and disaster programs and services such as disaster housing: temporary housing and FEMA trailers that are not accessible for people with disabilities, temporary housing assistance processes, ineligibility of undocumented and H-2A immigrants to receive FEMA assistance, discriminatory evictions of low income communities and the events that follow (i.e. no/incomplete repairs, luxury reconstruction and rent hikes).
  • The players and how systems work together at the local, state, and federal level. These systems are typically complicated/intimidating to navigate for those who aren’t familiar with them, so we want to provide clear pathways of how advocacy work can be carried out and how decisions are made.
  • Past discriminatory practices that have caused disadvantaged communities to be the hardest hit. Show the root causes of discrimination in emergency management policies so that they can begin to be transformed from the bottom up.
  • The continuous issue of waste spillage in low income communities and communities of color due to industrial corporations being located in close proximity.

HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS:

  • Community organizing success in disaster recovery to show that there can be wins even if it seems unreachable.
  • Community inclusive response when government is absent and when government steps up to be community/stakeholder informed (can inform visioning for the future).
  • Churches and places of worship that stepped up for their communities. Stories that could inspire other faith communities to implement climate disaster planning.
  • Successful and potential frameworks for inclusive disaster preparedness and recovery.

Submit here by June 25, 2019.