Third annual ‘Sustainable Stories’ film fest to showcase filmmakers and artists making a difference
University of Houston- Clear Lake’s third annual Sustainable Stories Film Fest and Juried Art Exhibition will take place on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, in the Bayou Theater and Art Gallery at 1 p.m. The festival aims to expose the community to ideas, concepts and stories of sustainability, and to empower filmmakers and artists working on sustainability-related projects. This year's special focus for the festival is Disability Visibility.
Associate Professor of Communications and Digital Media Michael Brims, the event’s co-founder and main organizer, said more than 100 films were submitted from all over the world for this year’s festival.
“We are inviting the best films to participate in the festival,” Brims said. “This is the third time we’re hosting this festival, and it’s a collaborative effort.”
Director of Cultural Arts Eric Despard, Emerging Technology Librarian Elizabeth Fridrick, Director of First-Year Seminar Program and Coordinator of UHCL Common Reader Program Anne Gessler and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management Kathleen Garland, have been working alongside Brims to host the festival.
This year’s feature film, ‘The Artist & the Astronaut', is a remarkable tale of an unlikely love story between the artist Pat Musick, a civil rights activist and former UHCL art professor, and the Apollo astronaut Jerry Carr. Their paths intersected during some of the most pivotal moments in human history, making for an incredible story of love, art and perseverance. This documentary is filled with never-before-seen footage of the early space pioneers and features interviews with key figures from that era, providing an intimate look into their lives and the historical events. There will be a talkback with filmmaker Bill Muench after the film.
Brims added that the art exhibition features seven works by Pat Musick, paintings, drawings, ceramics, sculptures, video art, and local and international submitted VR pieces related to sustainability in the Neumann Library XR lab.
The art exhibition and interactive pieces start on Nov.6 and continue through Dec. 8., with daily film screenings in the Art Gallery's adjacent black box cinema.
For more information about the Sustainable Stories Film Fest, visit www.sustainable-stories.org/. To purchase tickets for the festival, visit uhcl.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=1415.