Screening of The Plastic Vagabond and
Discussion with filmmaker Noé Sardet
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Alumni Auditorium
Champlain College
Noé Sardet, adjunct faculty at our Montreal campus, recently completed a 6 minute film called The Plastic Vagabond, funded by the Conservation Media Group (https://www.conservationmediagroup.org/blog/plastic-vagabond-takes-ocean-pollution) and shot aboard the Tara Expeditions https://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/en/). The Plastic Vagabond takes viewers deep into plankton ecosystems so they may witness how plastic gets drawn into the planktonic food web, acts as a vehicle for transporting invasive species, and winds its way into our own seafood supply. The film gives plastic pollution a face through the use of an engaging plastic toy –the plastic vagabond–who serves as narrator and takes the viewer on a journey from land to sea and back again, highlighting the longevity of plastic.
The Plastic Vagabond, is part of a media campaign designed to mobilize community efforts to reduce plastic ocean pollution and our overall plastic footprint. The project includes a TED-Ed lesson https://ed.ted.com/on/hiGIPdFs that allows the tracking of the educational impact of the campaign as it is deployed in schools around the world. The campaign includes a call-to-action through an international Facebook group that promotes both the film and the sharing of creative art projects using plastic pollution collected from beaches, as well as a feedback form to assess impact and audience engagement. The beach trash collection and art creation event is part of a contest that started March 10 and will run until October 15, 2016 with a $500 prize given to the group who designs the best art project from ocean plastics.