Screen Research at UWE: Climate Storytelling

Join us for an evening of cutting-edge research and creative practice exploring how film and performance can respond to urgent global challenges. This session brings together UWE Bristol researchers developing innovative approaches to climate storytelling, participatory documentary, and ethical wildlife filmmaking. Expect thought-provoking presentations, lively discussion, and a chance to connect with others passionate about screen media and social change.

Date & Time: Wednesday 28 January, 18:30–20:00
Venue: Pervasive Media Studio, Watershed, Bristol
Followed by drinks in the Watershed bar.

A new form of Natural History documentary: Co-creating compelling stories to engage audiences actively with global issues of climate, ecological and social justice

Jelena Krivosic

The project focuses on how co-creative and participatory processes could help tell diverse crises stories that encourage active participation in behaviour and systems change initiatives.

Jelena Krivosic is a PhD student at the University of the West of England, Bristol within the School of Arts as part of the Digital Cultures Research Centre, Screen Research Group and Science Communication Unit. They are currently expanding their MSc dissertation project by researching how Natural History documentaries engage audiences in climate and ecological justice, with a particular focus on how co-creation with filmmakers and audiences could help tell diverse crises stories to encourage active participation in behaviour and systems change initiatives.

Translating Testimony: Borrowed Words and Gestures

Sarah Berridge (UWE Drama)

In collaboration with Rachael Eames (UWE Technician) and Deepraj Singh (Performer)

This experimental short film investigates how meaning and emotion shift when real climate and nature-focused testimonies are re-interpreted and re-embodied by an actor. Using interviews with participants of different ages, the project explores how performance and film can reshape understanding, affect impact and prompt civic reflection.

Sarah Berridge is a Senior Lecturer in Drama, Acting and Performance, with over 20 years' experience in developing and delivering industry-relevant practical workshops in theatre-making. She has a special interest in devised theatre pedagogy, particularly involving storytelling with the body, gesture and presence; as well as experimental film-making/video art/performance projection.

Un-natural Worlds: Inclusion and Extraction in Wildlife Filmmaking

Jane Dawson

Wildlife filmmaking is a highly successful global genre. However, its spectacular ‘landmark’ productions such as Frozen Planet 2 (2022) have been made by flown-in crew, so much so that it is considered the UK’s joint highest polluting screen sector (Albert 2020). Commentators urge concern about this neo-colonial production workflow, which marginalises in-country voices. The research argues that a decentring approach is essential when considering alternatives to this colonial paradigm. The paper reflects new dialogue between wildlife filmmaking industry and marginalised crew from the Global South, woven through with insight from the adjacent but more progressive fields of Fourth Cinema and documentary ethics.

Jane Dawson is a PhD student and filmmaker. Her SWW2-funded PhD project interrogates the role of indigenous creatives in the UK’s natural history film sector. Jane’s research interests are diverse and her practice-based research often harnesses participatory methodologies. Her most recent works include No California (2021), a co-created documentary exploring regional (coastal) creative exclusion in the UK screen sector, and Mascota (2022), a conceptual short made as part of Dr Miguel Gaggiotti’s Transforming Voices collaborative project, which expounds women’s organisational vulnerability in the Mexico-US borderlands.