FLEFF Voices Heard ‘Round the World

By James Baratta ’22, April 9, 2021

Festival’s student blogging team takes center stage.

The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) student blogging team did extensive work to help produce supplementary content the annual event.

The coronavirus pandemic moved the 24th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) entirely online — a move that has allowed the festival’s student blogging team to take center stage.

FLEFF, which this year ran from March 24 to April 11, featured film screenings hosted through Cinempolis’s Virtual Cinema platform, as well talkbacks, master classes, presentations and discussions.

The student blogging team took the reins of supplementing that content through the blog, FLEFF Voices, which features interviews with musicians, filmmakers, scholars, artists and activists from around the world as profiles focusing on neoliberalism’s global connections and racialized structural inequalities. All content fits under the festival’s theme of “Infiltrations.”

“We're able to have a lot more time to have in-depth discussions on a global scale, which allows us to gain new perspectives from countries and people we wouldn't have [the] ability to talk to.”

Erin Pedersen ’21

Erin Pedersen ’21 said that global engagement has been a huge selling point of the content being posted, which is beneficial not just to the readers, but the writers.

“We're able to have a lot more time to have in-depth discussions on a global scale, which allows us to gain new perspectives from countries and people we wouldn't have [the] ability to talk to,” she said.

FLEFF Team member Stephanie Tokasz ’24 echoed the sentiment.

“I am exhilarated to take part in a festival that has no boundaries with people who have an imagination that knows no limits,” she said.

Tokasz recently wrote about “Conviction,” a collaborative feature documentary co-written and co-directed by Arielle Pahlke that tells the story of several incarcerated women through their eyes to advocate for alternatives to incarceration and decarceration.

“[Our students are] like ducks to water in a way — they just totally get it,”

Patty Zimmermann

Brittney Cooper ’23 profiled Gina Marchetti, associate professor in the department of comparative literature in the School of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong, despite the significant time difference. In their blog, Cooper said that Marchetti denoted the importance of FLEFF as a way for people living in the United States to enjoy films produced in cities other than Beijing or Shanghai.

Not only have FLEFF Team members been able to work across various time zones for their blogs, they have also learned about the ins and outs of diplomatic issues. Grace Bonner ’23 conducted a Q&A with Rikun Zhu — director, producer and founder of Fanhall Films. Before the Chinese government cracked down on independent Chinese cinema, Zhu had established many venues for creators to screen their films. He has since turned to online streaming as an alternative for independent film production and distribution in his home country.

Patricia Zimmermann, FLEFF co-director and professor of screen studies, emphasized the responsibility of bloggers to be mindful of cultural values that are unique to interviewees like Zhu.

“We want everyone to feel comfortable when they're being interviewed,” she said.

She also praised the FLEFF team for their ability to thrive in this year’s virtual setting.

“They’re like ducks to water in a way — they just totally get it,” Zimmermann said.