Our Best Short Film winner will receive our custom Global Shorts statuette which we ship anywhere in the world, free of charge. The award is manufactured by Society Awards, the same awards company that manufactures the Golden Globe and the Emmy. All winners will receive our Global Shorts Winner laurels in black, white, and gold.
Title: Terra Nostra
Runtime: 32 min
Country: USA
Director: Christophe Chagnard, Charlie Spears
Placement: Best Documentary Short + Best Music (Christophe Chagnard)
Competition: September, 2020
Synopsis: Terra Nostra is a 30-minute multimedia symphony about climate change designed to Engage, educate, inspire and empower people to move for personal and policy change to protect our earth. It is an evocative combination of orchestral music, poetry, and photography, intended to invite broad discourse and inspire concrete initiatives in audiences in ways science alone may not. It premiered in 2015 to critical acclaim and was revised and made into a film in 2019.
GS: What was the inspiration for your film?
CC: Terra Nostra is a 30-minute multimedia symphony about climate change composed by Christophe Chagnard with poetry by Emily Siff and a film by Charlie Spears from Hullabaloo. It was created to Engage, Educate, Inspire, and Empower people to move for personal and policy change to protect our earth. It is an evocative combination of orchestral music, poetry, and film, intended to invite broad discourse and inspire concrete initiatives in diverse audiences in ways science alone may not. It premiered in June 2015 to critical acclaim, was revised in 2018 and recorded in 2019 by Seattle Music with the composer conducting. The film was released in July 2019.
GS: When did you conceive the idea for your film and how long did it take before it was realized?
CC: Susan and Jeff Lubetkin initially commissioned a symphony about climate change from me. It later evolved into a film which makes it unique as the traditional dynamic is film first, music second. In the case of Terra Nostra, music sets the story line and emotional flow and the film adapts and enhances the aural experience. I spent about a year composing it and the film took four months to create.
GS: What was the most challenging aspect of working in a short film format?
CC: Tackling a subject as monumental as climate change and express all that we wanted to convey in 30 minutes was our biggest challenge.
GS: What was the most challenging aspect of your production?
CC: Finding the funding.
GS: Do you have any advice for first-time filmmakers?
CC: Be daring and unstoppable. Create about ideas and subjects that matter.
