Divest SC - Documentary

Sponsor: Arts & Climate Collective

About the documentary: The act of divesting from fossil fuel is bold. For decades, activists have called on schools, unions, and local governments to actively remove their investments in dirty energy and reinvest in clean energy. This used to be a political act. But, now it makes financial sense.

When the University of Southern California's new president, Dr. Carol Folt, arrived in the Fall of 2019 - she pledged to make sustainability a top priority. Reigniting activism on campus. Nathaniel Hyman and Tianna Shaw-Wakeman saw this and decided to launch Divest SC. Their mission was to “ask USC to publicly commit to a transparent and rapid selling of all $277 million of its stated investments in the fossil fuel industry and additionally reinvest those funds towards clean technologies and renewable energy.”

The goal was clear, but several roadblocks lay ahead.

I documented Nathaniel's journey as he launched DivestSC. I documented the infant stages of the campaign, getting testimonies on how they envisioned the campaign growing.

Due to COVID-19, the documentary was put on pause, along with the campaign. But when the campaign re-launched in the Fall of 2020, I started documenting the journey that winter. I was able to capture key moments, and eventually the achievement of divestment!

The narrative is chronological, starting with the climate strike held in January 2020, and ending with USC’s divestment announcement in mid-February 2021. I hope this film is an example to other student activists about how to achieve divestment.

Roles: Director, cinematographer, and editor