Crescenta Valley High School senior Chloe Ban won the top animation prize of $1,000 in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest for her short film “Black Tide.” She will also receive a matching gift of $1,000 to donate to a non-profit supporting the theme of her film. Ban decided to donate this match to Earthjustice, which focuses on environmental law.

Ban used simple, black, white and red text and graphics to convey urgency in her 3.5-minute film “Black Tide,” which is about the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as other oil spills. The tense soundtrack matches the onscreen action with the percussive tap-tap of typing throughout. For example, when explaining the cause of the explosion, Ban moved text in a narrow space upward on the screen to a horizontal line, visually mimicking the surge of natural gas that traveled to the platform.

For Ban, creativity and activism go hand in hand. In her contest submission, she wrote: “Spreading awareness through video editing and film is a great way to raise awareness about important issues.”

During the past year, One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest received 400 submissions from 55 countries and 36 states. Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Poland and the United Kingdom will be represented among winners, along with the U.S. states of California, Florida, Illinois and Virginia. The Global Award celebration will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22 in person at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. in Chicago, Illinois, or online virtually anywhere in the world. A special screening for those in Asia/Pacific is also available. Adam Joel of Aggressively Compassionate will host this event, introducing the winners before their films premiere. Reserve tickets are available at tinyurl.com/yfc24awards.

“Once again there is a variety of wonderful films, from emotional and poignant to humorous and hopeful,” said founding director Sue Crothers. “From environmental justice to appreciating the beauty of our environment, these films tell us that we are all responsible for where we are but also for where we can be. Change is possible!”

The One Earth 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. Beginning in January 2025, a jury of 31 film and/or environmental experts started evaluating 18 films each, on average. The call for entries for 2025 will open soon on Film Freeway.