Fostering Harmony with Hope through Storytelling: Elfenworks Announces New Pitch Contest with Campus Movie Fest
The Elfenworks Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization teaching a proven methodology, known as the Seven Pillars, to foster a world that is In Harmony with Hope. They work in three areas: preservation, transformation, and innovation. This includes active support for museums and environmental conservation, transformative student initiatives through Campus Movie Fest (CMF), and innovative creative and technology solutions to some of our world's most pressing problems. A dynamic and versatile organization, Elfenworks has since 2007 supported nonprofit IT Security practices; fostered student social entrepreneurship internationally including in China, Ukraine, and Jordan; backed new educational initiatives such as the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University, Poverty Law at Golden Gate University, Socially Responsible Business studies at various colleges; lifted up film efforts including The Concert for Hope; and much, much more.
Among other targeted efforts to keep hope alive worldwide, the Foundation has endowed an Elfenworks aviary at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care and has been working with a Jordan-based nonprofit towards establishing a cutting-edge farm that has the potential to transform agricultural practices in the Middle East. Believing students hold the key to hope, they provide the country's largest filmmaker award on issues students care about through CMF.
As one of CMF's longest-standing partners, they now provide an original content pitch opportunity, plus the budget and crew to bring one student's short film concept to life. The winning storyteller will receive $2,000 in prizes, Associate Producer credit, and the chance to join professional development and production teams as they create a high-impact, festival-bound film. The final short may be submitted to Sundance, SXSW, and/or Cannes. What kind of pitches are they looking for? The ideal concept points the way toward hope in a memorable and stirring way while remaining salient and enduring, and focus on a topic that intersects the environment and social justice in some way.
Dr. Lauren Speeth, Elfenworks’ Founding CEO, who currently serves as a Foundation trustee, first suggested the Elfenworks category. She leverages a lifetime of high-tech experience in Silicon Valley, from the startup to Fortune 50 levels in her work at the Foundation. A critically acclaimed educator and documentary filmmaker, she graciously took the time to answer a few questions for us about the Elfenworks Foundation’s history with CMF and their new pitch contest.
iU: How and when was the partnership between The Elfenworks Foundation and Campus Movie Fest (CMF) initiated?
EF: CMF was just getting started, perhaps 15 or 16 years ago. I was in Georgia visiting The Carter Center, which we support. The partnership was actually sparked in an office right there at The Carter Center, when I was introduced to some of the early participants. CMF was founded by Emory University students, and The Carter Center has a close relationship with that school. When I learned of CMF’s vision, I suggested CMF might consider a social justice category. And the rest, as they say, is history.
iU: Can you tell me what the seven pillars of Elfenworks are, and what they mean to you?
EF: This is another area in which The Carter Center plays a role in the story. When I was just getting started with The Elfenworks Foundation, President Carter shared with me some important wisdom for effectiveness: 1) follow your vision; 2) stay in an area where your skills make a difference; 3) go where your presence will make a real difference, don’t just pile on to the work of others; 4) work in partnership; 5) share the credit; 6) gather feedback on how you’re doing, for course correction; and 7) stay for the long term, because important change can take time. It sounds so simple, but we’ve found it to be very useful to our work, and I thought it was so important that I traveled worldwide to share it with students, including in Australia, China, India, Jordan, and Ukraine.
iU: How do you think Campus Movie Fest participants embody the seven pillars?
EF: They express their vision on a particular topic (#1 Vision), using their filmmaking skills (#2 special skills) in a way that is unique to them (#3 nonduplication), in teams and in partnership with CMF (#4 partnership), together earning prizes (#5 credit sharing & #6 feedback), and their CMF experience emboldens them to stay the course (#7 staying power) in filmmaking and as young people for the greater good.
iU: What is your proudest accomplishment at The Elfenworks Foundation?
EF: My proudest accomplishment for the Foundation has to be when a student has an “aha!” moment and takes the wisdom we’re trying to share, and makes it their own, or when students tell me that something we’ve done has made a difference in their lives. With CMF, I’ve been so proud of the films that were inspired by this partnership. And I was really humbled by some of the backstories that I heard later, by students who shared that these stories came from their own lived experience.
iU: What does “never underestimate the power of your ripple” mean to you?
EF: It means that you never know the impact you are having, but you shouldn’t underestimate it. Your words have power. There is a student suicide epidemic at the moment, so I tell students their kindness can actually save lives. I was concerned about student mental health, and so was David Roemer, and we actually held a forum at CMF one year, and included a representative from The Carter Center Mental Health Program. So CMF is having an outsized ripple in areas well beyond filmmaking.
iU: What inspired you to start a new pitch contest?
EF: CMF was looking at ways to involve more students during the pandemic, and to provide an unique opportunity to work with seasoned professionals in film. The inspiration came from CMF, but we were happy to take the lead as one of their long-standing partners, in exploring the potential. We like to say we’re on the “cutting edge of hope,” because we’re willing to take risks, rather than follow the pack, if we feel the potential benefit is there.
iU: What inspired the contest theme, “Point the Way to Hope”?
EF: We believe that students can sometimes see what officials may not – including hopeful directions. We wanted students to share their visions for hope for the environment and in social justice issues, which so very often are intertwined.
iU: What are you looking for in an ideal pitch for the contest?
EF: Authenticity. We are looking for an idea that comes from a student’s heart
IU: Can you tell us about last year’s winning pitch, Treasure, by Synnovea Ashe?
EF: It was heartfelt, and arose from her own experience of our throwaway culture and its effects. I loved how it explored what it might feel like to be part of what was thrown away – that metaphor is, in fact, quite profound, even though the film itself is so darling. It goes well beyond “one person’s trash (is another person’s treasure)” and is a comment on our own thoughtless tendencies. Because of how it was executed, a young child could love it, and an active environmentalist could also appreciate it, too. Those characters are unforgettable, and I’ve found everyone has a favorite. One of mine is that kitten clock. Something about the mischief in the eyes.
iU: What value do Campus Movie Fest student films bring to Elfenworks?
EF: One thing of value they bring to me, personally, is that they give me hope. The world is in great hands, with them. They care about such a breadth of issues, and they find so many creative ways to express that care, that I just know that, when they are given the reins in a more complete way, we’ll be better off.
The partnership with CMF has also sparked other partnerships as well. For example, when the Lasallian Volunteers of America were about to embark on a country-wide bike ride to raise awareness about poverty and opportunity, they wanted a documentarian for a little film they’d call LVs Ride. We worked with CMF and another Foundation to support the effort with equipment and such, and the result was lovely. The filmmaker, Nishant Gogna, did such a great job that he was hired by CMF full time.
iU: What difference has Ideas United/Campus Movie Fest made to Elfenworks?
EF: Campus Movie Fest has been such a wonderful partner to us it’s hard to know where to begin, but I should start with my good friend and colleague, CMF CEO and Co-Founder David Roemer in particular. For ten years running, prior to the pandemic, we held annual award events, which he never failed to attend and participate in. Long ago, when CMF had a music award component, we had an Elfenworks award for music also, and winning musicians also participated, sharing their talent on stage. We still work with some of those musicians, who have gone on to support great causes of their own. We’re so proud of all of our CMF participants. Whenever I feel the media has gotten a little too toxic and overwhelming, I just go back and listen to some of that music, or watch some of the previous years’ winners, and I feel refreshed, restored and hopeful again.
Check out the official pitch opportunity here and learn more about the Elfenworks Foundation by visiting their website or following them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube. You can watch innovative student films through Campus Movie Fest or find out more about Ideas United here. Together we’re changing the way stories are told, one project at a time.