International Ocean Film Festival

Second Place & Global Audience Prize — Middle School Category
"Black Ocean" — by Edna Luna
The STEM Academy @ Bartlett

Served as Film@STEM instructor and project sponsor for eighth-grade student Edna Luna, whose original film “Black Ocean” earned second place and the Global Audience Prize in the International Ocean Film Festival. The competition, now in its 18th year, is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the environmental, social, and cultural importance of marine ecosystems through film.

Guided Edna from her first day in my sixth-grade classroom through the development of this award-winning project, fostering her skills in storytelling, cinematography, and environmental advocacy through media. The project earned international recognition alongside entries from the Philippines and Pakistan.

"Edna’s dedication to her craft and her ability to use film to tell an engaging story is unparalleled. As her teacher, I have been proud to know her and work with her from the first day she walked into my classroom in sixth grade. As a filmmaker, I am extraordinarily proud to see the global recognition she is starting to receive; it is well-deserved." — Mary Ann Rogers Lamberth