Documentary “Urban Ark Los Angeles,” produced and written by Ursula K. Heise, now available
Congratulations to Professor Ursula K. Heise on completing a new project that showcases innovative connections between the humanities and the environment at UCLA. The Lab for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS) has been collaborating with the TV station KCET-Link this year, producing short documentaries and essays on environmental issues for their website.
The short documentary “Urban Ark Los Angeles,” which Professor Heise produced and wrote, is now up on KCET’s website. The film is accompanied by Heise’s lead essay and six essays by UCLA graduate students, including three from the Department of English: Comfort Azubuko, Robin Kello, and Spencer Robins. The documentary has already been picked up by four other web news outlets, including Wired.com and Mother Jones. The links are below.
The documentary, eleven minutes long and created with the help of faculty and graduate students from the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media, showcases the red-crowned parrots of Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley, a species that’s endangered in its original Mexican habitat because of the pet trade and deforestation, but is now thriving in Los Angeles. Their success is opening up new possibilities for thinking and telling stories about the conservation of endangered species in urban spaces.
KCET:
https://www.kcet.org/urban-ark/
CityLab:
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/06/the-case-for-sanctuary-cities-for-endangered-species/562091/
Wired:
https://www.wired.com/story/endangered-species-and-the-case-for-sanctuary-cities/
Mother Jones:
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/06/forced-migrants-make-new-homes-in-sanctuary-cities-with-nests-burrows-and-den
https://elementalreports.com/urbanization/2018/06/08/parrots-fill-the-soundscape-in-los-angeles/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social