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The Bright Lights Cinema Series features films that tell stories of environmentalism.
Hoping to learn tips and tricks for how to blow up a pipeline, students, faculty, and community members of all ages filed into the Bright Family Screening Room in Emerson’s Paramount Center on a chilly Thursday evening. Well, not exactly. Attendees looked forward to the Bright Lights Cinema Series’ screening of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a fictional film based on Andreas Malm’s non-fiction manifesto of the same name. The film follows a crew of young environmental activists who embark on a high-stakes mission to sabotage an oil pipeline.
Every semester, Emerson College presents the Bright Lights Cinema Series. These weekly screenings are presented by the college’s Visual and Media Arts department with the goal of creating community through cinema and welcomes Emerson faculty, students, and staff as well as the general public. In addition to their commitment to screening at least 50 percent of films directed by women and crafting a diverse program including Indigenous filmmakers, filmmakers of color, queer cinema, and films dealing with disability, the Bright Lights Cinema Series also frequently features films that explore topics of climate justice.
Bright Lights’ programming lineup for fall 2023 featured a collaboration with Emerson’s newly launched Transforming Narratives of Environmental Justice Initiative (TNEJ). The TNEJ seeks to advance environmental and climate justice through collaborative storytelling, design, and research. Along with their strong cohort of Emerson faculty and students, the TNEJ works in partnership with GreenRoots, Speak for the Trees Boston, Zoo New England, and the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative. For their collaboration with Bright Lights, the TNEJ presented three films followed by panel discussions: How to Blow up a Pipeline, Radical Imagination: Responding to an Environmental Crisis in Motion, and Lakota Nation vs. the United States.
The screening of How to Blow up a Pipeline was followed by a panel discussion that featured Juwaria Jama from Emerson Green Collective, Susan Lemont from Extinction Rebellion Boston, and Naia Tenerowicz from the Springfield Climate Justice Coalition. The panelists echoed the film’s sentiment that environmental activists are often feeling desperate and compelled to move toward more extreme action. They emphasized that building community in the climate justice movement is imperative — climate issues are bigger than a single individual or organization and a multitude of tactics are required to spread awareness and influence change. While the panel noted that the actions depicted in the film should not be viewed as a true “how-to” guide, they all acknowledged the important role that film and art play in activism.
Bright Lights’ spring 2024 lineup continues to include films that deal with environmental issues. On March 23rd, they will be screening King Coal, a documentary that explores the complex history of the coal industry as well as the communities that continue to be shaped by coal mining. This screening is co-presented with Independent Film Festival Boston, the Salem Film Festival, the Boston Women’s Film Festival, the Emerson College Office of Sustainability, and the Engagement Lab and will be followed by a discussion with the director, Oscar-nominated Emerson alumna Elaine McMillion Sheldon.
The Bright Lights Cinema Series takes place in the Bright Family Screening Room in Emerson College’s Paramount Center (559 Washington St, Boston) every Thursday during the semester at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). All screenings are free and open to the public and seating is on a first come basis.
