G2 Green Earth Film Festival

Loyola Marymount University

The Mayer Theatre
1 Loyola Marymount University Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Google Map to LMU Guest Parking

ONCE ON CAMPUS, DIRECTIONS TO THE LMU SCHOOL OF FILM AND TELEVISION

Mayer Theater: Communication Arts Building
The Communication Arts Bldg. is at Map Location F-6

Guest Parking Instructions
Park in Visitor Parking Lot “A” at Map Location F-9. Access lot "A" after turning onto LMU Drive from Lincoln Boulevard, where you can stop at the guard gate if you need to clarify these directions.

Friday October 20th, 2017

“Common Bond” Changing the Conversation between Man and Animal
Beneficiary: Voice for the Animals

7pm

• The Shepherd on the Outskirts of Paris
• Turtles Shell at BIM 26
• Pandas in the Mist
• Forgotten But Not Gone: The Pacific Fisher

• Panel Discussion lead by Eric Strauss

• Feature: Gray Area: Wolves of the Southwest
• Reception to Follow

Saturday October 21st, 2017

“Getting Current” Navigating Earth’s Water Crisis
Beneficiary: Heal the Bay

2pm

• Premiere: Beyond the Brink
• Panel Discussion with filmmaker Jim Thebaut to follow

5pm

• A Plastic Ocean
• Teach a Man…
• Port Rivalry
• The Call from the Sea
• The Oyster Revival

• Panel Discussion lead by Eric Strauss

• Feature: Here After
• Reception to Follow

Sunday, October 22nd, 2017

“Green City” Sustainable Living in Today’s Urban Environment
Beneficiary: The Bay Foundation: Table to Farm Composting

1pm

• Premiere: The Cat That Changed America

3pm

• The Arcade Creek Project
• Circularity Preparing For the New Economy
• Living with Fire
• Cycologic
• Green Soil
• Trash Manufactured

• Panel Discussion lead by Eric Strauss

• Feature: Evolution of Organic
• Reception and Award Ceremony

The G2 Green Earth Film Festival awards four prizes. Three are selected by the Jurors. The only prize the Jurors do not award is Audience Choice.

Gottlieb Award for Environmental Excellence | Award $1,000

This prize recognizes an outstanding film dedicated to informing the audience about a critical environmental issue affecting a local community or the world.

Best Feature | Award $1,000

This award recognizes a feature film with exceptional storytelling, representing all the directing, writing, editing and more that went into film production.

Best Short | Award $500

This award recognizes a short film with exceptional storytelling, representing all the directing, writing, editing and more that went into film production.

Audience Choice | Award $500

The audience is encouraged to select their favorite overall film. Each guest is given a ballot and may select only one film, either feature or short. The results are tallied after the final film screenings.

LMU Center for Urban Resilience and School of Film and Television Student Award | Award $500

The CURes / SFTV Student Award for most "Eye Opening" Film is presented to the filmmaker whose entry best informs the audience of an environmental issue that has escaped the limelight...until now.

The G2 Gallery

The G2 Gallery, founded in 2008, is an award-winning nature and wildlife photography gallery that facilitates change by bringing attention to environmental issues through the persuasive power of photographic art. The G2 Gallery’s mission is to support art and the environment by showcasing the world’s most celebrated nature and wildlife photographers, and donating the proceeds to environmental charities.

The G2 Gallery presents an enlightening range of exhibits along with informative lecture presentations, film screenings and special events, held in partnership with local conservation and educational organizations. The G2 Gallery Store features fun, eco-friendly items in its trendy Abbot Kinney Boulevard location.

Loyola Marymount University | Center for Urban Resilience

The Center for Urban Resilience (CURes) is dedicated to serving urban communities with a suite of research, education, restorative justice and urban planning programs designed to improve quality of life for residents, especially for those in underserved neighborhoods. CURes uses urban ecology to empower communities to build resilient, vibrant, and just cities through meaningful interactions with their diverse ecosystems. In particular, CURes emphasizes linking LMU and its partners to neighborhoods that have been historically underserved. The Center’s work fosters the philosophy of environmental justice – local communities making local decisions. CURes believes this is the most effective process for creating resilient cities. Some of CURes general community services include operating Ballona Discovery Park, leading a suite of school science programs and advancing research projects focused on transforming the urban ecosystems around us.

Loyola Marymount University | School of Film and Television

Movie industry moguls helped establish Loyola Marymount University's (LMU) current campus on the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964, LMU was formally teaching film and television curriculum, and in 2001, the School of Film and Television (SFTV) was established as its own entity. Today, SFTV, one of the country’s top-ranked film schools, offers students a comprehensive education where mastering technical skills and story is equally important to educating the whole person, including the formation of character and values, meaning and purpose. SFTV offers undergraduate degrees in animation, production, screenwriting and recording arts; minors in film and television studies, animation and screenwriting; and graduate degrees in production, screenwriting, and writing and producing for television. Selected LMU alumni include Francis Lawrence, Melissa Blake, Brian Helgeland, Effie Brown, Barbara Broccoli, James Wong, Jack Orman, John Bailey, Bob Beemer, Francie Calfo, Lauren Montgomery and Van Partible, among others.

The net proceeds from all festival activities will be donated to these three environmental charities.

The Bay Foundation: Table to Farm Composting for Clean Air

In 2014, California’s restaurant industry generated 3 million tons of waste. Half of that was food waste that could have been diverted to feed hungry people and build healthy soil. The Bay Foundation’s Table to Farm Composting for Clean Air program reduces food waste by creating closed-loop systems with restaurants, compost hubs, and urban gardens.  Thanks to a generous grant from the SoCalGas Environmental Champions Initiative, we’ve built our first Table to Farm Composting hub at the Environmental Charter Middle School – Inglewood.  Participating Inglewood restaurants can now drop off their food scraps at the school to be composted by students, with the help of our partner organization Social Justice Learning Institute.  Urban farms, community gardens, and SJLI’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program will have access to this compost.  Participating restaurants can opt in to purchase CSA produce that’s grown from the very soil they amend.  Our ultimate goal is to localize solutions to the global food waste epidemic through closed system partnerships for everyone connected to food, the waste stream, and climate.

Heal the Bay

Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean. Heal the Bay uses research science, education, community action and advocacy to pursue its mission to protect those who swim, surf and play in the ocean, and the animals who call it home.

Voice for the Animals

Melya Kaplan founded Voice for the Animals in 1999 when she realized that there was a dire need for a new type of animal protection organization with programs to empower people to help more animals. Voice for the Animals’ programs vary in focus and include assistance over the phone from experts, educational programs, cat placement programs, advocacy for elephants in captivity and abuse protection both worldwide and locally.

The G2 Green Earth Film Festival is made possible by Dan and Susan Gottlieb, owners of The G2 Gallery.

DAN GOTTLIEB

Born in Chicago, Dan Gottlieb grew up spending hours in the Field Museum of Natural History and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. He graduated from Boalt Hall Law School and then served for four years as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney.

In 1976, Dan co-founded a real estate company that he ran for 40 years and just recently sold. During the 1990s, Dan served a six-year term on the Board of Directors of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce.
In his free time, Dan loves to take photographs, with a specific interest in the hummingbirds that live in his backyard.

SUSAN GOTTLIEB

When Susan Lenman Gottlieb was born, her family was living in a log cabin built by her Swedish immigrant father in the remote area of Quebec, Canada. After graduating from Mack Training School for Nurses in St. Catherines, Ontario, Susan worked for many years in California as a registered nurse.

Although the Gottliebs have had a lifelong interest in nature and the environment, Susan became actively involved in the 1980s when she began the restoration of her garden by removing most of the exotic plants and replacing them with California native plants. The Gottlieb Native Garden is now designated by the National Wildlife Federation as an official Backyard Wildlife Habitat and a Xerces Society Designated Pollinator Habitat. It is often included as a stop on LA’s prestigious garden tours and offers a wonderful look at many varieties of California natives.

Susan is currently on the President's Council of National Wildlife Federation, the Boards of Directors of the Friends of Ballona Wetlands and Audubon California, and is a supporter of many environmental organizations including Earthjustice, Conservation International and The Theodore Payne Foundation among others.

Meet the ten industry experts selecting the semifinalists and finalists to screen at the 5^th annual G2 Green Earth Film Festival!

Daniel Blumstein

Behavioral Ecologist and Conservation Biologist, TED Speaker, UCLA IoES

Allison Carruth, Ph.D.

Associate Professor at UCLA English Department, Institute for Society and Genetics and Institute of Environment and Sustainability, UCLA LENS

Dr. Jason G. Goldman

Co-editor for Science Blogging: The Essential Guide and The Open Laboratory: The Best of Science Writing on the Web

Lila Higgins

Citizen Science Program Leader at Natural History Museum

Tom Lowe

National Park Service Artist-in-Residence, Cinematographer

James C. McWilliams

Professor of Earth Sciences, UCLA IoES

Christina Ochoa

Actress, Marine Biologist, Nerd Brigade

Ian Shive

Filmmaker, Photographer, CEO of Tandem Stills + Motion

Jane Velez-Mitchell

Founder and editor of JaneUnChained

Teagan Wall

Neuroscientist, Nerd Brigade

Jared Nigro – Programming Director

Jared Nigro has been a member of The G2 Gallery team since 2011. He is the Programming Director of the G2 Green Earth Film Festival this year as his passion lies in environmental films. Jared oversees the selection of films that will be screened at the festival and also manages the panel discussions and debates that take place each evening. He loves how the G2 Green Earth Film Festival evokes spirited debates, illuminates stories of bravery, and brings together a variety of great minds.

Gregory Ruzzin – LMU | School of Film and Television

Gregory Ruzzin, MFA, is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. Ruzzin – who earned his MFA at the prestigious School of Cinematic Arts at USC - teaches courses in fiction and documentary film directing and believes that telling stories (and listening carefully to them) is how we learn about ourselves, about other people, and about the world around us. Helping his younger sister Alyssa – who lives with epilepsy and a developmental disability – tell her story in their documentary feature film “LOST CHILD?” inspired new opportunities for collaboration and led to Ruzzin’s current creative work, “THE MAGIC CHAIR Project,” a multi-year, international storytelling project that empowers individuals with disabilities, educators, and families to tell their own stories and provides a place for those stories to be heard and seen.

Eric Strauss, Ph.D. – LMU | Center for Urban Resilience

Dr. Eric Strauss serves as President’s Professor of Biology at Loyola Marymount University and Executive Director of CURes. With collaborative research specialties in animal behavior, endangered species management, urban ecosystems and science education, Eric has extended the model for faculty scholarship by co-founding the Urban Ecology Institute in Boston while he served as a faculty member at Boston College and CURes in LA, both of which provide educational, research and restoration programs to underserved neighborhoods and their residents. In addition, Dr. Strauss is the Founding Editor of a web-based peer-reviewed journal, Cities and the Environment.

He has co-written multi-media textbooks in biology and urban ecology and hosted multiple video series on life sciences and ecology. Dr. Strauss received his BS in Mass Communication from Emerson College and Ph.D. in Biology from Tufts University in 1990.

Edward Boks – The G2 Gallery Executive Director

Edward Boks has devoted his career to animal welfare, managing the three largest animal welfare agencies in the country: Los Angeles Animal Services; New York City Animal Care & Control; and Maricopa County Animal Care & Control in Arizona. Ed received the Life Time Achievement Award presented by In Defense of Animals for his “extraordinary life of compassion, commitment and achievement dedicated to ending animal homelessness and providing compassionate care for homeless animals.” Boks brings his management acumen and understanding of effective environmental programs to this year’s festival.