Woodridge student to win prize in global green film contest on Sept. 17
Murphy Elementary School student Hasan Muhammad's film "The Salt Solution" won an honorable mention award in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest.
The awards celebration will take place at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., in Chicago, as well as online.
This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/yfc23awards.
In colder climes, salt is used to prevent roads and sidewalks from becoming slick or slippery. In his five-minute film, the fifth-grader explained that salt harms wildlife and plants, and that just one teaspoon of salt can impact 5 gallons of water.
Hasan interviews Hanna Miller from The Conservation Foundation about being "Salt Smart." She says salt runs into the waterways, harming macro invertebrates, and never leaves, making it important to use it sparingly. Through cartoon illustrations, Hasan then explains the best ways to tackle ice and snow with brooms, shovels, and snow blowers before spreading salt judiciously.
"I feel very passionate about salt pollution in local waterways and wanted to bring more attention to how big of an issue salt pollution is," wrote Hasan in his contest entry.
Since its inception in 2013, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest has grown from a local Illinois project to a highly competitive international competition garnering 403 submissions. Countries such as Brazil, Australia and Mexico and states such as California, Georgia and Indiana will be represented among this year's winners at the Global Awards Celebration.
"This year our awards event will include a sneak peek of our honorable mention winners. We will be screening a compilation of these 12 films. This is the first time we will be recognizing the honorable mention winners at our main event, side by side with our top 10 winners. It's all very exciting," said contest founding director Sue Crothers.
A full screening of the honorable mention winners will occur in November online.
"The secret ingredient to our success is youth. They have opinions, ideas and viewpoints about the climate emergency," Crothers said. "It's hard for people to deny what's happening when they're living through extreme floods, fires, and tornadoes. And the younger generations have something to say about the mess our generation has made."
The Young Filmmakers Contest asks students from age 8 to 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.
The deadline each year is June 25, which gives individuals and school groups the entire academic year to submit their film projects. A jury of 32 film and sustainability experts evaluated this year's films.
The call for entries for 2024 will open soon on Film Freeway at filmfreeway.com/OneEarthYoungFilmmakersContest.