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Hayley Nenadal is the Festival Director of EarthX Film, and shares about upcoming environmental film screening events at EarthX Film, South by Southwest (SXSW), Mountain Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, and the EarthX Earth Day gathering in Dallas, Texas in April. Notably, she discusses Ben Master’s “Trojan Horse” film titled “Deep in the Heart” and a new project called “Four Down” that documents a remarkable sustainable and climate-action project in downtown Dallas led by the skateboarding community. “Four Down” features the community gardens, regenerative urban farm, hydroponic food, compost operation and other soil-building and nutrient-dense food producing impacts led by this extraordinary group of skaters. Hayley discusses the importance of hopeful and inspirational story telling as a powerful tool for education and mobilization to create a better, more sustainable world and to bring more healthful and life-enhancing projects and practices into communities throughout the country and around the world.
Along with jurors from MTV and Vimeo, Hayley is on the “short documentary” panel for the upcoming SXSW Film Festival, at which EarthX Film is also debuting a number of hopeful film stories, including “Four Down” ~ featuring the very special skateboarding and regenerative farm project in the heart of Dallas.
About EarthX & EarthX Film
Founded by Trammell S. Crow (Podcast Episode #55), EarthX convenes the largest Earth Day gathering in the United States, and possibly the entire world. In April, over 200,000 people attend the gathering, at which several concurrent conferences (EarthX Capital, EarthX Film, etc.) are curated, and hundreds of sustainability and regeneration-oriented companies and organizations feature their work, products, and services. (This year the Y on Earth Community will have a booth presence, and Executive Director Aaron William Perry will be giving talks and leading a Biodynamic soil activation workshop for the Dallas community). EarthX Film is a year-round environmental film festival founded by EarthX. If you’ll be in Austin for SXSW, you can visit and join Hayley 1:30-3:30pm on March 12th at SXSW’s “ACL Live” for a free film screening event in Austin, Texas.
About Hayley Nenadal, Festival Director, EarthX Film
Hayley Nenadal has nearly two decades of experience working with film festivals, including Sundance, Telluride, and Mill Valley Film festivals. At EarthX, Hayley oversees the festival programming and operations while also programming and consulting on film and documentary projects developed and acquired by the organization and distributed across its brands. She joined EarthX four years ago as Program Manager for the Festival. Before joining EarthX, Hayley spent ten years at Sundance in Park City working in Artist Relations and Production, where she developed a network of relationships with talent and industry executives. She was Assistant Production Manager for the Telluride Film Festival, working with teams to build the beloved festival venues, and also served as Operations Manager for the Mill Valley Film Festival. She also worked in programming at Mountainfilm Festival, which hosts outdoor adventure and environmental films at their annual Memorial Day event. She began her career at Industrial Light and Magic and has worked in films and television production, including 12 Years a Slave and ‘True Detective’ (HBO). She was recently named a jurist for the Documentary Shorts competition at SXSW 2023.
Resources & Related Podcast Episodes
linkedin.com/company/earthxfilm
facebook.com/earthxfilmfestival
Podcast Episode 55 – Trammell Crow, Founder, EarthX
Podcast Episode 61 – Michael Cain, Co-Founder, EarthX Film
Podcast Episode 80 – Adrian Alex Rodriguez, Co-Founder, EarthX Latin America
Images & Hotlinks
https://earthxfilmfestival.org/
https://www.instagram.com/earthxfilm/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxfilm/
https://www.facebook.com/earthxfilmfestival
Transcript
(Automatically generated transcript for search engine optimization and reference purposes – grammatical and spelling errors may exist.)Welcome to the YonEarth Community Podcast. I’m your host, Aaron William Perry. And today,
we’re visiting with EarthX Film Festival Director, Hayley Nenadal. Hi, Hayley. How you doing?
Hey, good. Good to be on here. Yeah, it’s great to have you on. And I’m really looking forward to chatting
with you about all that you’ve got going on with EarthX Film. It’s pretty exciting. Yeah, it’s an
exciting time for us. Yeah. Hayley Nenadal has nearly two decades of experience working with film
festivals, including Sundance, Telluride, and Mill Valley Film Festivals. At EarthX, Hayley oversees
the Festival Programming and Operation, while also programming and consulting on film and
documentary projects developed and acquired by the organization and distributed across its brand.
She graduated four years ago as Program Manager for the Festival. Before joining EarthX,
Hayley spent 10 years at Sundance in Park City, working in artist relations and production,
where she developed a network of relationships with talent and industry executives.
She was assistant production manager for the Telluride Film Festival, working with teams to build
the beloved festival venues and also served as operations manager for the Mill Valley Film Festival.
She also worked in programming at Mountain Film Festival with hosts,
witch hosts, outdoor adventure and environmental films at their annual Memorial Day event.
Hayley began her career at industrial light and magic, and has worked in films and television
production, including 12 years of slave and the HBO program True Detective.
She was recently named a jurist for the documentary shorts competition at South by Southwest
in 2023, which is coming right up, Hayley. Maybe we’ll jump right into this most.
That way it’s currently happening. Yeah, tell us it’s so great, having you on by the way.
I’m really excited. We’ve got a number of great things to chat about today. Tell us what’s
happening with South by Southwest. Yeah. Well, the exciting thing is South by Southwest
actually starts next weekend on the 9th, I’d say, 9th or 10th. And, you know,
there are several different jurists, jury groups for the festival, and I was asked to be on the
shorts dock, which is coincidentally my favorite section of films chosen to be on that jury.
And I am lucky to be on with someone from MTV and someone from Vimeo. And so we’ve actually
already done the judging and we’ve already done the deliberation and we’ve already chosen our winner.
What’s really cool about it, I didn’t know this going into it, but it’s an Oscar qualifying
festival. So our award can be Oscar-qualified now that they’re getting a jury award.
So it’s just a really great way to get, I think, that shorts, but documentary shorts kind of get
a little bit of the short and linguistic in terms of people seeing it and getting in front of
people. So I’m hoping that awards like this and South by Southwest can get more, more eyes on
these great films. That’s so exciting. Well, I imagine, although you guys have already made your
decisions, that’s not something you’d share. Yeah, the award is on the 13th, 14th, 14th, that Tuesday
of the festival. So, yeah. Very good, yeah. And we’re ordinarily, we publish our interviews a few
weeks after we record, but in this case, we’re actually going to do our best to expedite and get
it out ahead of time, so folks can be a part of that exciting announcement. And although we’ll do our
normal behind-the-scenes chat after recording our main episode here today, Hayley, we probably won’t
even announce the winners there either, but you never know, you never know. I think I would be
remiss, not to mention that, Earth X Film is also doing an official event at South by.
We’ve kind of found, you know, Earth X is all about climate stories that matter, and
we are partnering with a company called Narlie Bay and a musician named Kishi Bashi to put on an
event on March 12th at 310 at ACL Live to talk about climate stories that matter, and just kind of
how film and music can help address environmental issues. Yeah, and you know, what’s amazing to me
is, as you and I were discussing the other day, this whole movement of independent film festivals
and a variety of films, documentary and otherwise, are sort of transiting this arc from
entertainment and art per se into activism and even like inspirational educational
pieces helping the public to become more aware and engaged in a number of these different
aspects of the ecological and social challenges that we’re facing right now. And you’ve sort of
seen this evolution firsthand in your various roles. I mean, I think it’s really hard not to
respond to what’s happening from an artistic viewpoint. And I think that a lot of organizations,
a lot of these nonprofit film organizations are kind of waking up to realizing that those
stories need to be funded and the with grants and that those stories need to be showcased to kind
of just start the conversation that needs to be happening in the public. Whether it’s a hopeful
conversation or it’s an activism conversation or it’s a like holy crap we’ve got to do
conversation. It’s kind of all of those things at once. Yeah. Yeah, it’s very interesting. We’ve had
the opportunity to connect with a few different filmmakers in the last year or two and a couple of
the documentaries that that I’ve had the opportunity to view, you know, are sharing really,
really important information but also can end up feeling pretty heavy and leave me feeling anyway
like gosh, I’m not sure what I can do about that particular situation. And I’m curious, as you’re
seeing a lot of these films and working with a lot of these filmmakers, do you often have conversations
around, you know, what’s the call to action? What’s the opportunity for the public to get involved
with the issues? Yeah, yes, definitely. We’re definitely having that conversation. I think
I think it’s hard not to make a film that’s hard right now for people to watch.
Constantly, having films come across our desk at Earth like film that are like, oh man, that’s a rough,
it’s a rough, it’s an important film but it’s a tough film. And how can we, like you said, walk away,
have audiences walk away with some sort of action item and, you know, for us, we’re also looking for
an action item that’s more localized because I do think like nationally we need to be doing things,
but if everybody starts locally, that’s actually quite a movement. So we’re based in Dallas,
Texas, which I think a lot of people don’t imagine an environmental film festival happening in
Dallas, Texas, but we’ve been incredibly excited and energized by the fact that there are a lot
of people doing the work in Dallas, Texas. And they don’t, they’re kind of quietly doing the work
and they’re kind of quietly doing the work altogether. And then when we’re kind of showcasing them,
a partnership with a film we’re showing that is exhibiting some of the stuff that they’re doing
in their community, they’re so excited. And so it kind of seems like the right time, right place
for the work that we’re doing to kind of collaborate with locals who are also doing it in their
community. Yeah, that’s, that’s so exciting. And I had the opportunity to get down there for the
Earth X film festival gathering in 2019 right before COVID. And of course, we’ve got to give a
shout out to Tramil Crowe who has spearheaded so much around all of this. He’s the founder of
Earth X and has been on our podcast and is doing so much in the way of environmental leadership
assembling coalitions and organizations from all around the world and really helping to elevate
the awareness around many of these issues. I think it’s amazing. Some of the things I’ve heard
happening in Dallas and elsewhere. Yeah, yeah, we have the unique
like mission and opportunity to bring both sides of the table to the environmental conversation.
It’s not a Republican Democrat issue. It’s not a conservative liberal issue. It’s, it’s in everybody’s
world, earth issue. And how do we, how do we kind of both come to the table and come up with
solutions? And I personally think it’s the best way to do it. I don’t think we’re going to move
the needle if we’re just looking to one side for solutions. I really agree. And you know,
this also sort of makes me think about another interesting point, which is the role of storytelling
in these movements working on these various issues impacting all of us all over, regardless
of our political views, our socioeconomic status, what have you, we’re all being affected by
these situations. And obviously, film is a very powerful medium for storytelling. I’m a writer,
as you know, I write books. And I am struck by how potent these opportunities are to affect
people’s points of view and actions in the world. What do you, what do you see there in terms of
the potential that storytelling can help in these myriad challenging situations?
Well, I want to pick an example of a filmmaker that we work with often. His name’s Ben
Masters. He’s incredible. He’s from, I believe near Austin, Texas. He has a science background
then turned filmmaker. And he’s kind of, I’ve heard this, I’ve heard this convert, this term in
environmental climate story conversation, but the Trojan horse method, where it’s somebody
who is 100% walks the walk and talks the talk, but he, like, he is a Texan through and through,
but he also is deeply, deeply tied to the environment of Texas. He makes films about species
important to Texas. He just made this simple deep in the heart that is kind of like the,
um, man, I’m forgetting that kind of the BBC environmental, um, it’s like,
Oh, um, Edinburgh. Yeah, but it’s like the environment. It’s like the Texas version of that
Matthew McConaughey is actually the narrator. Um, and it’s, it’s kind of like, it’s the move of,
he tells a really good story with incredible imagery and no matter who you are as a Texan,
you walk in and you see that filming, you’re like, just so amazed at the state that you live in.
And so proud of all the environmental work that’s happening there and all the species that live
there and the beautiful landscapes and all that stuff. So it’s, it doesn’t, like, people come and see
his films with, like, idea of I’m going to see a Texans films and then they come back with a
purpose of like, wow, that is like what it means to really be a Texan, like, I really want to embrace
the place that I live in. Um, so I think that that the idea of people coming into a movie theater
or people, I think music is the same. Um, people coming into an auditorium where someone’s playing
and they’re really there to enjoy the art of film or music and they come away with a deeper
understanding, knowledge, um, information, um, idea of something they can do for their community
and their world. Um, so I think, I think calling it the Trojan Horse Method is funny, but it is
true. It’s like you’re coming in for one thing and you’re leaving with another and, um, it’s pretty
cool. Oh, that’s so cool. How, I’d love to see this one deep in the heart than Master’s. How
do we, how do we find it? Where is it? I think, I want to say it’s streaming on a major platform
at this point. You definitely can rent it on like, um, Apple on Mac, but yeah. Very cool. Yeah,
that’s a wonderful story. I look forward to checking that one out. Um, and then I, of course, want to
ask you about now Earth X film is, is producing content, um, kind of shifting from the
focus, exclusive focus on convening films, filmmakers and others, but now you’re producing content.
Tell us what’s happening there. I mean, it’s so exciting to hear about that. Yeah. Well, two of
the things we brought up kind of come into play with our reasoning for this and one of it was that
we want to showcase hopeful stories. And so A, we want to help support fun filmmakers. We have
a grant, an annual grant now where we’re supporting, uh, um, environmental storyteller, a filmmaker.
But we decided that we also wanted to make some of the more of the stories that we want to see
on the big screen. And, um, in our work of convening people and showcasing film and Dallas, we came
across this incredible skate park that’s in the Oak Cliff region of Dallas. Um, and they’re called
Fortown. And, um, it’s an amazing, I don’t even know where to start with Fortown, but the two
wonderful skaters, Rob K. Hill, Mike Crom, um, both Born and Raised and Dallas started a skate park.
And now have like their feeding their community, their building community, they are starting a
regenerative farm. They’re starting an hydroponic farm. And like, I mean, they started with,
I’ve grown to really love the skateboarding community. I think they’re really innovative,
but like in, as, as skaters do, they’re just constantly innovating on how to be supportive of
the community that they exist in. Um, and I think when people hear that there’s a compost sub
and a regenerative farm in like the city, in the center of the city of Dallas are like, wait, what?
Um, and we kind of said the same thing. And so we partnered with, um, a company called
Narlie Bay. Um, they’re based both in Colorado and I, somewhere in the northeast, uh, great production
company, work with them, um, a director named Danny Schmidt. And we made a short film about
Fortown. It’s literally called Fortown. Um, and it’s going to, I also a secret. It’s going to
premiere at a couple really big film festivals. And we’re really excited to kind of, and everybody
says the same thing when they see it. They’re like, I don’t see a lot of hopeful stories these days
and seeing this hopeful story. It totally changed the game for me. Like, everybody leaves the room
so inspired. So that’s that we, we’re already achieving our goals, which is really cool.
That is so amazing. And, uh, you know, I, um, heard recently that at the upcoming Earth X gathering
in Dallas, which is touted as the world’s largest Earth Day green gathering with something like
over 200,000 people expected to show up during those few days. We’ll be down there. YonEarth
We’ll be down there this year. Um, I heard there’s also going to be some big, uh, skateboarding
lesson opportunity that is, uh, actually doing a sneak peek of the film there too. Oh my god.
You’ll be able to see the film and Rob will be up there in some of the, the, the cast of the film.
Yeah, they’re going to build a half pipe. Like, I think a lot of people, when they think environmental
films, they’re thinking people climbing through the grand canyon, rafting on like, you know, they’re,
they’re in the grand tea tons or all that stuff. And like getting outside can also mean, um,
get on your skateboard and ride the streets of Dallas. And I think that for us, it’s like we’re really
meeting Dallas where it’s at. And that’s how people get a lot of people get outside at skateboarding.
And so, um, at the annual Earth Day Expo, which is Earth Ex, then what everybody knows us for, um,
in Fair Park, I think it’s, I should know this off top, man. I think it’s April 20th to 23rd,
- Yeah, we’ll have a, um, 410. We’ll have a half pipe pipe belts. They’ll be skateboarding
lessons. It’ll be a fully part of the whole exhibit. So it’ll be really fun. Yeah, that’s going to be
a total blast. Yeah. It’s, uh, it’s amazing. I’m going to have to tell my son about this. He’s,
he’s an avid skater himself. So, cool. Yeah. Yeah. And of course, there’s this, uh, really interesting
sort of Dallas and Texas connection with Colorado in this Earth Ex ecosystem. And although Earth Ex
film is based in Dallas, uh, you’re also here in Colorado. I know. I base and tell you right Colorado.
Yeah. It just kind of an epicenter for films. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I’m just curious, um,
what is it, uh, for you personally, what is it about living in that part of the mountains that
helps in your, you know, connection with nature, with the work being done in the environmental
movement? And, you know, I’m, I’m just kind of curious from a personal point of view. Uh,
what do you, what do you do over there? You’re a hiker, a skier. What are you into?
Kind of all those things, right? I love to hike. I love it’s now the season to ski. It’s
not snowing currently, but it has been. Um, yeah. I mean, if you have ever been to tell you
right Colorado before, you know, it’s like this tiny little town in this big, big mountain range.
And in this small box canyon, and I think that, you know, when you’re in tell, you’re at
it’s hard to imagine that the rest of the world exists because it’s like the mountains are so
immense all around you. Um, for me, um, I actually grew up in California along the coast. And
I don’t know if I ever unders, like I knew, I didn’t know if I could ever live away from the ocean
because it’s such a part of life there. And then when I saw these mountains, they kind of
hit that same sense of wonder. Um, yeah, tell your right is an epicenter of film creatives, um,
with the tell your right film festival, with mountain film, with the blue grasshopper,
there’s just so much music and film that comes through here. So it’s like kind of a constant
muse in that way. Um, and I actually was living in, I was working for an organization called
Mountain Film, um, right before I started working for Earth X, um, very similar to our goals with
Earth X, um, really exhibiting change makers, activism, environmentalism, all of those things
through the films. And so kind of taking some of the best practices I learned there, applying them
to Earth X, um, and also I’ll, I’ll be really honest, the top visitor to tell your right is tech,
is from Texas and the top visitor from Texas is from Dallas. So we actually have a lot in,
we have like a brick big sink up here. There’s a lot of people who are, who are lovers of Earth X
that, that come and spend a lot of time until you’re right, completely separate of me knowing them.
And so it’s like a very cool thing of people spending time in the mountains and also living in
this city and the south. So yeah. That’s great. Yeah. You, you had shared with me a little bit about your
childhood experience over there in California, San Luis, the best hotel area. And I thought it was
really striking, uh, some of the experiences you had growing up and it would love for you to share
a bit with our audience about that because it’s a really interesting part of your background.
Yeah. I mean, I, I’ve kind of reflected why I, I don’t know if everybody does this, but at
moments I’ve reflected why I am the way I am or what, why my goals are what they are. And I’ve
kind of come to the conclusion that a lot of it has to do with where I grew up, um, from this
little town called San Luis the best hotel. It’s not really as little as it was when I was a kid,
but it’s a college town about seven miles from the ocean, um, deeply, deeply environmentally connected.
We have a, like the largest farmers market in California. We are, um, big, it’s very unspoken.
It’s just kind of the general practice. A lot of people are regenerative farmers. A lot of people
are very connected to the way they farm. They’re not, it’s, there’s not a lot of big farming around
that area. Um, it’s also a very large nuclear power plant about seven miles from it. Um, it’s the
only one still up and running in California. And my parents as long as well as many of my friends,
parents moved there in the 70s to, uh, protest that power plant and stayed because it was so beautiful.
And now actually that power plant is being seen as a major solution for the future of, um,
carbon and climate change, um, Biden just put in a significant amount of money as well as
the governor of California to keep it open, um, because it’s a carbon neutral energy. And so
I think kind of having all those awarenesses around me and just, it’s just kind of a way of life
to be more connected to your outdoors, I kind of took that into all the things that I do. And
I can’t forget to say that we have the first solar powered movie theater. Um, it’s called the
Palm Theater. And it’s an independent movie theater. So he shows what he wants and he shows
really good films. And so I’m kind of having that cross section of this really cool movie theater
downtown where I saw a really good film growing up. And then it also being the first solar powered.
It’s so funny because nobody talks about it. It just is what the way it is. But then when I go
anywhere else and I say, I use the facts about my hometown, I kind of can’t believe a place like
that exists. So yeah, it’s something I’m very proud of that I’m from there. And, um, yeah, it
definitely influenced who I am. Yeah, that’s absolutely so beautiful, absolutely wonderful.
Let me remind our listeners that this is the YonEarth Community podcast. I’m your host,
Aaron William Perry. Today we’re chatting with Hayley Nenendal, the the festival director of Earth
X film. And I want to be sure to give a shout out and thanks to a few of our sponsors who make
our podcast series possible. Um, this includes Purim, Waylay Water, Soaking Salts,
Soil Works, the VeridiToss Society. And you can find links and deals and discounts to those
products and find information about those great companies at the YonEarth.org website
under our partners and supporters page. Of course, I want to also give a shout out to our
ambassadors and those who are engaged in our monthly giving program. And if you haven’t yet
joined and you’d like to, you can go to YonEarth.org and click on the Donator Support button
and set up a monthly giving program for yourself at any level that worked for you.
If you would like to give it the $33 or greater level, we will, as a thank you, send you
a jar of the YonEarth.org, regeneratively grown, hemp-infused, aroma therapy, Soaking Salts,
as a thank you. That’s available in the United States at this point. So thanks to all of our
supporters. And yeah, Hayley folks can find more information about EarthX Film on the website,
which is earthxfilmfestival.org. Of course, you guys are also on Instagram, LinkedIn, both of
those are EarthX Film. And then on Facebook, it’s EarthX Film Festival. And if you’re interested
in learning more about the huge gathering happening in Dallas in April, you can go to earthx.org
to learn about that. YonEarth community is going to be down there. All kinds of wonderful
leaders, organizations, and folks from the general public getting together to celebrate the
environment and learn more about what we can do to be better stewards of the environment.
And hope to see you guys there. And yeah, Hayley, I am sort of, you know, chomping at the bit
here to know, like, what else do you see coming up in the coming months and years? And I imagine you
probably have a few things in the works that you can’t talk about quite yet, but would love to
whatever extent you can give us kind of a glimpse into what’s coming. That would be wonderful.
Yeah, for sure. I will. So, Earth Day or Expo, which everyone knows EarthX for is happening in
April, but we starting last year, we separated out the film festival from the Expo. It used to be
a festival within a festival. We kind of decided that was too much and we really wanted to get time
in space to the filmmakers and musicians. There will be films at the Expo in April. I believe 12,
which is awesome. They compliment the conversations happening up on stage, which is kind of what we
always wanted to have happen, like how are films complimenting the conferences, the policy makers,
all that stuff. How are they giving examples of what needs to happen? But in October, October 20th
to 22nd, we will have the EarthX film festival three days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday of great films.
We’re looking at, we’re not fully confirmed, but looking at being in the Bishop Arts District,
which is a really up and coming artist’s neighborhood of Dallas, trying to make it as walkable,
as possible, and intimate as possible, truly. I think sometimes people get caught up in like,
I want a theater with 800 people and we’re like, we actually want a theater with like 150 really
stoked individuals and or newcomers, people who have no idea what they’re walking into and they
walk away with something new. So that’s kind of we’re going for the more intimate look this year.
We’re also looking for a more more interactive approach to a film festival where like we show a film
about compost and then you actually feel composted soil or you’re like, you’re learning what goes
into your compost by like actually practicing it in a workshop after the film you just saw. So we’re
we’re kind of looking at different ways to just really engage people, especially post COVID,
like people not just being, I feel like so much of COVID people were kind of being talked at or
they could, they were only receiving from this and they weren’t, it wasn’t like a back and forth
conversation. So I think that’s really what is impetus of all this is we’re just like, we want
people to feel heard and also learn new things. So I think what’s going to be, we’ll see, we’ll see
what October looks like, but we’re really excited at kind of like a new model and making it film
and music and workshops and conversation and just kind of like a just a new thing. That’s so
cool to hear. Yeah, that hands-on tactile interactive pieces is so potent and what one of the things
we’ve been doing a lot of with the Y on Earth community is these biodynamic land and water
medicine stirs. Basically, we’re planning to do one down in Dallas for Earth Day and yeah,
it’s when we when we literally physically touch the soil, the compost and interact with all those
microorganisms and experience the benefits of boosted serotonin production. I mean,
there’s science showing that interacting with soil microbes regularly boosts cognitive performance
in immune system function. All these wonderful good things and I love to hear you guys are thinking
about that because often when we’re sort of thinking about film and story and even like digital
media like a podcast, it’s not always like immediately translating to physical interactive
embodied things we can do. So it’s it’s really cool to hear you guys are thinking that way.
Yeah, absolutely and everything you’re saying is exactly spot on.
That’s so great, Hayley. Well, I am just thrilled and want to be sure to ask you about
some calls to action. How can people get further involved in addition to going to the websites
and checking out the social media? What are some other ways people can connect and get involved?
Well, the truth is is social media first because we’ll be announcing volunteer opportunities,
film maker grant opportunities, film like right now we have submissions open for all filmmakers
who would like to exhibit. At the Earth X Film Festival, we have a whole screening committee
and programming team that will be watching everything that’s submitted. We will and I think also
on our social media, we kind of talk about the upcoming festivals that we’re partnering with,
that we’ll be at and also talking about our foreground film where it might be something to
a community near you at one of your film festivals. So yeah, I kind of think social media I need
to say that that’s the way to go, but probably social media, even over our website because it’s
just updated all the time, kind of talking about ways to be it to be a part of it all. And if you
are at South by Southwest and I don’t know if this is coming up before South by Southwest, but if
you are at South by Southwest, come by 130 to 330 on March 12th that Sunday at 310 at ACO live.
We have to let batch holders in first, but other than that, we are letting the general public
it is a free event. So that’s March, what day again? March 12th. March 12th, cool. I’ll include that
in the show notes, assuming we are able to get this out in time. I’m hopeful, we’ll see.
Yeah, and I wanted to ask you a question, you know, will after recording our main podcast
episode, of course, we’re going to do a special behind-the-scenes conversation, which is available
to our ambassadors. You’ve got to have the password to get into the ambassador resources page at
wineerf.org of you behind-the-scenes discussions and other video resources that we’ve recorded
in the past. And maybe we’ll dive a little more deeply into this in the behind-the-scenes piece,
but I want to ask you, you know, what’s it like, kind of for you, transiting the arc from your
work in the, perhaps, quote unquote, more mainstream film world, right? Working on a major production,
like 12 years of slave industrial light and magic where you worked, obviously, that’s
touching lots and lots of feature productions that many of us have seen, and working on true
detective for HBO. Like, what’s it been like for you going from that milieu into what you’re
doing now with Earth X and also into those other independent film festivals?
It’s a big question. I went to film school because I grew up with the films, like Jurassic Park and
Hook and Back to Future, and all these wonderful, fantastical films that many were touched by industrial
light and magic. And when I graduated film school, I traveled a lot for the first couple years,
and I came back and I was like, okay, I want to get into some big films, and I was looking
up to have some connections to get me a job at industrial light and magic, and I got to work on
Avengers, and I got to work on Wrangle, and I got to work on Transformers, and all these very,
very, very mainstream big Hollywood films, also working with artists who literally worked on the
films that I grew up watching that inspired me to get into film in the first place. It was
extremely wonderful experience. I wanted a more tactile experience, and so and more on set set,
industrial light magic is visual effects. And so I actually, at the time, as 2012, I moved to
New Orleans, which was a bit of a gold rush for film jobs at the time. There was major tax incentives
for the industry to do film down in New Orleans and the larger Louisiana. And I just jumped in
so in the deep end, and worked on so many things, 12 years of slave, trajectives,
plan of the apes, all these things, and I kind of found myself getting to the point where I just,
you know, I watched documentaries, but when I was in college and those early years,
documentaries weren’t really that mainstream. They were kind of something you saw in Europe,
or a lot of Europeans were making, but not a lot of, there weren’t a lot of American companies
or filmmakers making them sustainably where they were like actually sustaining themselves as artists
doing it. And that kind of changed a bit around 2012, and I was just like, man, I really, really
that is where my heart is. I don’t just don’t, I’m just not quite where I want to be right now,
and I applied for a job at Sundance and was lucky enough to land in the US doc competition,
where it’s just such a prestigious area niche of documentaries. And I saw stuff that really inspired
me, and then I started to see this world of environmental documentary in kind of the beginnings
of that. So I kind of like to say that I started really, really like wide, and then I kept narrowing
my focus because I got to Sundance, and I was documentary, and then I led my way to tell you
right, and it got into more environmental documentary. And now I’m like literally only
working with environmental documentary. And I actually think it all plays upon each other,
because I do think I will say, and I don’t think, I know it’s not a secret, but all of her stone,
which is someone that I grew up loving his films has a new film, and a new environmental film out.
And I’m just like, it’s all kind of like everybody’s, yeah, we’re just a little bit ahead of the curve,
but I think there’s going to be a lot of mainstream filmmakers that are making films that address
the current times, because it’s just too much on all our minds. And yeah, I think at all
in our times, because we really do think really understanding like really strong filmmaking,
the craft of really strong filmmaking is kind of at the base of it all too.
Wow, yeah, and obviously all of her stone has put together not only such compelling films from
the art and aesthetic standpoint, but also really educational on a number of topics, historical
and contemporary that are so important for us to be aware of. Yeah, absolutely.
So I got to ask, we at the YonEarth community do a lot of our work around health and balance,
and doing our best when we’re really busy or stressed to, you know, take care of our bodies,
our minds, our spirits, and I know you’ve got to be so busy right now with everything happening.
What are some of your own personal practices to maintain health and balance in the midst of
such a busy life right now? I love that you’re asking that question, because I’ve very recently
reconnected with kind of my best practices. I grew up cross country runner, obviously a place
like Telluride and the extensive trails around here really lends itself to cross country or
long distance running and climbing and hiking. In the winter I can get pretty dark and cold,
shorter days, colder days, and I just like really starting the beginning of the year,
I know that’s a little bit cliche, but I really made some goals for myself in terms of running,
and so I think it’s about getting that fresh air in the morning, whether it’s walking or running
or skiing, that really, it kind of takes away, I know the stress, it’s usually this practice of
everything kind of being in front of you and you can’t quite see past it or like progress past it,
and I think that getting that fresh air in the morning really helps. It’s just a part of it all,
it’s not the main focus, so it kind of puts good context to everything.
Well, I love it. Yeah, so so important, and of course in a place like Telluride here with the
trees and such beautiful vistas, it’s absolutely wonderful. Yeah. Think about that. Absolutely.
Well, Hayley, I’m so thrilled we’ve had the opportunity to visit and record with you today,
and of course we’re going to do our behind the scene segment here in just a short while,
but before we sign off from our main podcast episode, I want to invite you if there’s anything else
you’d like to say or share with our audience to please do so. I think we’ve really covered
everything that’s that’s great. I guess I would just say that, you know, we would love to have
you in Dallas, Texas, and Earth Days coming up really soon, but we’re about, I guess, two months,
we’ll try seven weeks here out from it, but if you find yourself wanting to come be part of a
really good conversation around the environment and kind of hearing both sides of the story,
I invite you to come down to Dallas this April 20th to 23rd. Those are the dates. It’s
Earth Day, Earth Day weekend in Austin. Earth Day weekend plus. Yeah, we’ll be sure to get the
official dates in the show notes and yeah, we just echoing Hayley’s invitation. We would love
free to get down there as YonEarth will be down there as well, and it’ll be a tremendous
gathering celebration and opportunity to connect. And Hayley, thanks so much for being on the podcast.
It’s wonderful chatting with you. Yeah, it’s been wonderful. Thanks for having me.
Absolutely. See you later. Bye bye.
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