Naperville siblings win honorable mentions in national filmmaking contest

Two Naperville home-schooled siblings, Henry and Piper Sobel, won honorable mention awards for their films about endangered mammals in the national One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest in March.

Henry's film will screen in a free, online Earth Week event on Monday, April 18, at 5 p.m. CDT. Registration is at bit.ly/YFCWinners.

Pipe cleaners, felt, paper and wood are the materials Henry uses in his 2-minute film, "Bats and White Nose Syndrome." Bats are in decline, threatened and even endangered because of habitat loss and white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease. The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome spreads in caves, where bats tend to hibernate. Henry suggests building bat boxes out of wood to keep bats in safe, fungus-free, homes. He concludes, "Stopping the decline of a species is an important thing to do. … Earth is in big trouble, and we need to save it."

Piper's 3-minute stop-motion film, "Pangolin Protection," features a Claymation mother pangolin (and baby) that easily rolls into a ball, to protect herself with her outer scales. Piper explains that there are eight pangolin species in Africa and Asia, but all of them are threatened, endangered, or critically endangered. Poachers often sell them for medicinal use. With surprise and delight, Piper announces that in Illinois, we can support the Pangolin Protection Act HB4787, which prohibits the sale, trade, possession or distribution of pangolins and pangolin products.

Seven other short, winning student films from among 13 honorable mention/notable winners will screen along with the Henry's film on Monday, April 18, at 5 p.m. CDT.

Topics range from conserving the last frontier of Alaska, to reducing ocean waste, to disconnecting from electronics and re-connecting with nature. Contest founding director Sue Crothers will facilitate a short Q&A with each filmmaker after their films screen.

"There are some very thought-provoking films that should lead to interesting discussions," Crothers said. "Students will Zoom in from the Midwest, East Coast, Scotland, and even Turkey."

These films are among the best from 148 submissions, as rated by a jury of 16 film and sustainability professionals.

The Young Filmmakers Contest asks students from third grade to age 25 to create a 3- to 8-minute environmental film that inspires change or action. Animated or stop-motion films can be a minimum of 45 seconds long.

This Young Filmmakers event kicks off a week-long series of environmental documentaries, Earth Week Mini Film Fest from April 18-24, by One Earth Collective. Learn more at oneearthfilmfest.org. Register for the Young Filmmakers screening is at bit.ly/YFCWinners.

Films by both siblings premiered at the One Earth Film Festival on March 13 before the feature film "Extinction: The Facts" with Sir David Attenborough.