Patricia Zimmermann, Charles A. Dana Professor of Screen Studies and Director of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF), was invited to present about the festival’s pandemic innovations at California College of the Arts on November 2, 2021.
Zimmermann discussed the innovations and massive changes initiated by the 2021 festival as it migrated to 100% virtual and intensified its interdisciplinary, international, and multi-platformed approach to considering a wider, more expansive view of environmental issues.
She discussed collaborations and partnerships with Cinemapolis, the Park Center for Independent Media, the School of Music, the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, Opera Ithaca, the Cherry, the French Embassy, Media + Environment Journal, Buenos Aires Film Archive, the Co-creation Documentary Convening Group, Cine Documental (Latin America), iDocs (Bristol) and other organizations.
The presentation elaborated the ways in which the festival increased it time frame, expanded session and talkback time, instituted extended runs on films, featured more international guests. It presented events about film, new media, visual art, music, public health, opera, theater, environmental issues, science, disability rights, feminism, book launches, discussion convenings.
Zimmermann also explained how the pandemic prompted the festival to intensity and amplify its role to showcase Ithaca College faculty research for a wider audience and to move research beyond specialized venues into a more accessible public sphere.
