GreenShorts | Southern California — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

An environmental film competition for Southern California high school students

SoCal high school students: grab your cell phones, video cameras, and laptops — your voice and creativity can change the planet!

The GreenShorts environmental short film contest is a platform to showcase your ideas, commentary, and vision for our city and the world. You may submit one short film for each category. Films must be less than 3 minutes long — creative liberty is encouraged! Films are encouraged to feature the Southern California area.

The deadline to submit is April 23, 2021.

2021 GreenShorts Film Festival Virtual Ceremony

High school students across Southern California submitted many short films tackling environmental issues for the 5th annual GreenShorts film competition. We received wonderful, amazing films this year, and it was hard to narrow them down. Winners were announced on June 10th during a virtual ceremony on YouTube Live. Congratulations to all of the winners! View the ceremony below!

Film Submission Categories

Create your film about one of these categories! Remember, your film should be 2-3 minutes long! Some filmmaking resources you can use may be found below.

Climate Trailblazers

Activists or communities making a positive climate impact

No Justice, No Green

The intersection of environmentalism and social justice issues

Ready, Set, Action!

Solutions for the environment and sustainability

Wild California

Animals, plants, or natural systems found in the great outdoors

Out of the Box

Inspired by the environment, let your creativity run wild!

Power Poetry

Slam poetry about the environmental crisis we face

Free Filmmaking Workshops

Screenwriting Workshop

Join us for a screenwriting workshop hosted by 826LA Saturday, February 27 (Part 1), and Sunday, February 28 (Part 2) from 11am - 1pm PT (1pm - 3pm CT).

Workshop leader, screenwriter, and teacher Yásaman Madadi will teach students about the basic components of screenwriting for a documentary or narrative short film. Upon completion of parts 1 and 2, students will create a completed fiction or non-fiction script.

Space is limited to the first 20 people who register to attend! We will have a waitlist once all spots are filled.

RSVP to attend by Thursday, February 25!

ABOUT WORKSHOPS AT 826LA
Our mission for Workshops is to build community while supporting students in exploring new and creative ways to use writing to discover themselves, practice self-care, hone their storytelling skills, support college access, and apply their STEM abilities. The goal is to redefine student's relationship to writing so that it can be seen as a fun and useful tool, rather than an academic chore.

Video Production Workshop

On Saturday, March 6 @ from 10am - 12pm PT (12pm - 2pm CT) our partners at MY HERO Project will host a video production workshop to give students pointers and tips on how to film short environmental videos. We'll help guide student story ideas in pre-production, give at-home filming tips for production, and give ideas on the many ways they can edit their film in post-production.

RSVP to attend by Thursday, March 4!

The MY HERO Project uses media, art, and technology to celebrate the best of humanity, one story at a time.

Awards, Rules, Judging Criteria and Terms

Awards & Prizes

1st Place: $500
2nd Place: $300
3rd place: $150
Audience Choice Award: $100

Rules

Films should be 2-3 minutes
Films may be created by an individual or a team (please be safe and healthy!)
Individuals or teams are limited to one film per category
Participants must be enrolled in high school and under 19 years old

Judging Criteria

Films will be judged on how well they relate to the submitted category. For example, for the Ready, Set, Action! category, a film that truly discusses solutions to environmental problems will rank higher than a film that only loosely discusses solutions.
Films — both fictional narratives and documentaries — should include scientific facts about the environment and/or sustainability.
Fancy equipment, b-roll, and camera moves will not necessarily score you more points. What’s most important is your film’s overall message.
Films will be judged by the content of the film, its ability to educate, inspire, and raise awareness of the film’s chosen topic.

Terms

Finalists are required to attend the award ceremony Thursday, June 10, 2021.
Through film submission, UCLA IoES is granted the right to use the film for promotional, but not commercial, purposes.

Submit Your Southern California GreenShorts Film by April 23, 2021

Writing and Production Workshops

We are partnering with 826la.org and MY HERO Project to host two virtual workshops next year — one on screenwriting and the other on film production.

Further details to be announced.

Get Inspired

My Hero Project

Our partners at MyHero Project have complied collections of excellent films to inspire your work.

GreenShorts | Southern California

Sponsors