Youth v Gov Film Premiere at Montana State University

751 West Grant Street,Bozeman MT 59715

23 March, 2022

Description

YOUTH v GOV follows 21 young Americans suing the world’s most powerful government to protect their constitutional rights to a stable climate The local premiere of an award-winning documentary film made by a Montana State University film graduate about 21 young people who sued the government for failure to mitigate the climate crisis, followed by a question-and-answer sessions with the principals in the case and the film, has been set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, in Ballroom A of the MSU Strand Union Building. The event is free and open to the public. MSU’s student-led Leadership Institute is organizing the screening of “YOUTH v GOV” and the discussion with Christi Cooper, the MSU film graduate who produced and directed the feature-length documentary about a group of young people who sued the government for violating their rights to a clean climate. Julia Olson, chief legal counsel for the landmark case Julianna v. the United States, will join Cooper for the question-and-answer session following the film. “YOUTH v GOV” tells the story of 21 American youth, now aged between 13 to 24, who in the landmark case Juliana v. the United States sued the U.S government for violating their Fifth Amendment rights of life, liberty, personal safety, and property through actions they claim created the climate crisis that they must inherit. “It is not every day that students and the community get the opportunity to meet and ask questions to an award-winning film crew and the attorney on a ground-breaking case” says Carmen McSpadden, the director of the MSU Leadership Institute. Olson is the founder of Our Children’s Trust. Her work focuses on representing young people and elevating their voices so that they can speak up for the quality of their lives and of future generations. Olson is a recipient of the Rose-Walters Prize for Global Environmental Activism, and the Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism in 2017. She has been the chief counsel of Julianna v the United States. Cooper received her Master of Fine Art degree from MSU in Science and Natural History Filmmaking in 2015 and focuses her storytelling on issues of justice and other pressing issues of our time. She has won several film awards including Wildscreen’s Panda Award for Best Campaign Film, Best Environmental Film from Backcountry Film Festival and Best Made in Montana award from the International Wildlife Film Festival. For five years, Cooper and her crew, many whom were also MSU-affiliated, crisscrossed the country, filming the plaintiffs as many of them grew into young adults. She traveled from the woods of Oregon to a barrier island off the coast of Florida threatened by rising sea levels to a reservation in Arizona filming stories that are the heart of “YOUTH v GOV.” Cooper’s “YOUTH v GOV” film crew includes 12 Alumni from the MFA program. The March 23 event will also mark the 20th anniversary celebration of MSU’s MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking program. In addition to Cooper, other MSU-related film crew for the documentary included fellow MFA graduates Liz Smith (2007), co-producer; Danny Schmidt (2012), camera; Stephani Gordon (2010), camera; Andy Adkins (2013), camera; Roshan Patel (2016), additional camera; Sharon Pieczenic (2008), additional camera; Samantha Bates (2019), intern; Jason Roehrig (2020), production assistant and Stefanie Watkins (2008), Kickstarter trailer editing. Crew members who have undergraduate degrees from MSU’s film program included William Lake Springstead (2013), assistant editor; Korey Kaczmarek (2015), cinematographer and Heidi DuBose (2002), sound. Faculty member Dennis Aig, program director of the MFA program and a veteran award-winning filmmaker, served as co-producer. The event is presented by the MSU Leadership Institute and sponsored by Office of the Provost, ASMSU, College of Arts and Architecture, Diversity and Inclusion Student Commons, Honors College: Honors Presents, MSU Department of Native American Studies, MSU Model United Nations, Sustainability Now, MSU Leadership Fellows Program, and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. For more information including accommodations, contact the MSU Leadership Institute at [email protected], and (406) 994-7275.