Filmmaking students win award at inaugural NAHEMI–UK Green Film Network Competition

Filmmaking students from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) have won a national award at the inaugural NAHEMI–UK Green Film Network competition, celebrating environmentally focused filmmaking from higher education institutions across the UK.

The third-year student film ‘Save Our Seas’ received The UK Green Film Network Award for Best Environmental Messaging, recognising its powerful and poetic response to the urgent environmental challenges facing the world’s oceans. The award was presented at a Green Gala screening held at The Garden Cinema in Soho, London, attended by filmmakers, educators, and environmental campaigners.

‘Save Our Seas’ is a visually rich and evocative short film set at dawn on the South West coastline. Through three intergenerational stories – a young surfer, elderly wild water swimmers, and a shared shoreline walk between a parent and child – the film explores humanity’s deep connection to water. Told through a spoken-word poem and captured using Super 8mm film and organic underwater imagery, the work begins as an intimate portrait of coastal life before revealing a stark environmental truth. As pollution gradually infiltrates each story, the film builds towards a compelling call to action, asking why something that binds all generations and communities is allowed to be destroyed.

The film was created by UWE Bristol third-year filmmaking students Lily Marsland, Ruben Josephs, Willem Newton-Beer, and Megan Muir-Bird, whose work stood out for both its artistic impact and clarity of environmental message.

UWE Bristol Filmmaking Senior Lecturer John Podpadec said: “We are immensely proud of this group of students and of the work they have produced. This is an excellent initiative by NAHEMI and we were thrilled this year to submit a number of short films on sustainability issues to the competition.”

The award forms part of A Few Minutes for the Planet, a new initiative launched by NAHEMI in partnership with the UK Green Film Network, with support from BAFTA albert Education Partnership and the Green Film School Alliance. The programme aims to spotlight short, eco-conscious student films addressing climate change, with winning entries screened in UK Green Film Network cinemas nationwide.

This achievement highlights UWE Bristol’s commitment to socially engaged, environmentally responsible filmmaking and the talent of its emerging filmmakers on the national stage.