2022 Sustainable Stories Film Fest
November 10 & 11 UHCL Bayou Theater
November 7 - December 9 UHCL Art Gallery
About the Film Fest
Our festival is kicked off by a 2-day event, scheduled for November 10 & 11, 2022. During these two days we will not only have film screenings and performances in our 500-seat UHCL Bayou Theater, which has recently been renovated and optimized for film screenings. We will also have the official opening of our gallery exhibition in the UHCL Art Gallery, which will consist of a Black Box Screening Theater, several other screening spots throughout the gallery, as well as sustainability-related physical art, such as framed photographs, paintings, sculptures and a Virtual Reality installation. The gallery exhibition will be open to the public from November 7 - December 9. Our Black Box Theater adjacent to the gallery main space holds approximately 40 people and has recently been up optimized for h-res film screenings. From November 28 - December 9, our Black Box Theater will feature scheduled screenings, see below for details. A Virtual Reality film will also be shown in the UHCL Alfred R. Neuman's brand new VR space.
During our 2-day event November on 10 & 11, along with the film screenings and gallery exhibition, we will also conduct panel discussions, host a vendor exhibit of local sustainability organizations as well as a concert of the Houston band the Free Radicals. All events will be held in the Bayou Building of the UHCL campus and they are open to the public. (See detailed schedules below).
All participating pieces are about an aspect of sustainability. This does not only include environmental sustainability, such as sustainable water usage, sustainable energy usage, sustainable city planning, sustainable agriculture & gardening, resilience, etc., but also social sustainability and social justice, economic sustainability and educational sustainability. This year's festival has two special focus areas: 1) Sustainable Use of Water and 2) Environmental Advocacy. Participating productions include documentaries, narrative films, animations, VR / AR productions, experimental films, video art, etc.
The films of our 2022 SSFF edition have been curated by Mary Magsamen, long-time curator at the Houston-based Aurora Picture Show. Confirmed participants for our panel discussion on environmental advocacy are at this point Chanté Davis and Bryan Parras, both of which have extensive and impressive records advocating for environmental sustainability in the local Houston area and beyond.
Our festival partners with the Houston Citizens' Environmental Coalition (CEC), founded in 1971 to foster dialogue, education, and collaboration on environmental issues in the Houston / Gulf Coast region. It connects concerned citizens and community leaders with well over 100 diverse environmental organizations. CEC shares, supports, and enhances people's efforts and environmental advocacy.
The festival has submissions from over 40 countries and will screen almost 100 films and physical work from over 30 artists This second edition of the SSFF festival builds on a successful inaugural edition in 2021, which screened over 80 films in altogether 7 screening locations and was attended by over 1000 people.
All film screenings and the gallery exhibition are FREE and Open to the Public!
The concert by the Free Radicals is FREE to students, regardless of school
2022 SUSTAINABLE STORIES FILM FEST SCHEDULE
The Art Gallery Exhibit will be open November 7 - December 9
UHCL Art Gallery Hours: Mon - Thurs 9am-6pm & Fri 9am-12pm
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH
Art Gallery Opening & Vendor Expo - UHCL Gallery
Concert performed by the FREE RADICALS - Bayou Theater
5 - 7 PM
7:30 PM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH
BAYOU THEATER SCREENINGS
1:00 - 2:30pm: General Short Films on Sustainability
3:00 - 4:15pm: Short Films on Environmental Advocacy
4:15 - 5:00pm: Conversation with filmmakers about Environmental Advocacy
6:00 - 7:00pm: General Short Films on Sustainability
7:30 - 9:00pm: The Condor and the Eagle, followed by a conversation with filmmakers
2022 FILM FESTIVAL JUDGES
Mary Magsamen, MFA
Mary is a curator, educator and artist. She is currently working as an independent curator on large scale public art video projects. From 2008 – 2022 she was the Curator at the Aurora Picture Show in Houston, Texas, a media arts organization that specializes in experimental film, video and art. She is the recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellowship and a FACE Curatorial Fellowship. For the Aurora Picture Show, Mary curated, among other things, their annual Extremely Shorts festival. She also judged for the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the New Orleans Film Festival, Houston Arts Alliance, University of Houston, Sam Houston State University, Kingwood Community College, and Texas Commission on the Arts. Prior to Aurora Picture Show, Magsamen curated independently and taught in University programs at The New School University, University of Toledo and University of Houston. Magsamen has a collaborative interdisciplinary artist practice with her husband, Stephan Hillerbrand, as Hillerbrand+Magsamen. Mary holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan,
Submission Info
All Film, Digital Photography, VR and AR submissions must be made through our Film Freeway Site. For Artwork submissions (sculptures, framed photography, pottery, etc. please email: Brims@UHCL.edu