Isabelle Carbonell is a Belgian-Uruguayan-American award-winning experimental documentary filmmaker, and an assistant film professor at the American University of Paris. She holds a PhD in film from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research and practice lie at the intersection of expanded documentary, environmental justice, and the Anthropocene, while striving to develop new visual and sonic approaches and methods to rethink documentary filmmaking and create a "multispecies cinema". Imbued in all her work is the connection between the slow violence of environmental disaster, climate change, bodies of water, more-than-humans, and the future. Carbonell's award-winning films and installation works have been presented in museums, film festivals, and art galleries internationally.
Academic publications Some of Carbonell's work comprise the following academic publications:
Interactive Multispecies Documentary Methods (2022) Multispecies Cinema in Wretched Waters: The Slow Violence of the Rio Doce Disaster (2021) Polyps are a Pluriverse in the Feral Atlas (2020) A Story on Story: Camel Racing, Robot Jockeys, and Documentary Filmmaking (2020) Coming to Our Senses beyond the Talking-Head: the Panesthetic Documentary Interview (2018) The Ethics of Big Data in Big Agriculture (2016) Golden Snail Opera: the More-Than-Human-Performance of Friendly Farming on Taiwan's Lanyang Plain (2016)
Education Carbonell holds a PhD in film from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also received her B.A. in Residential College Social Science and in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI and completed her M.A. in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Awards and nominations
Princess Grace Award | Graduate Film Scholarship 2019 Mellon Dissertation grant Beyond the End of the World 2019-2020 Best Digital Media Award from Fingerlakes Environmental Film Festival 2019 for The River Runs Red Best Ethnographic Interactive Award from the American Anthropological Association 2018 for The River Runs Red Honorable Mention for Cultural Horizons Prize 2017 for Golden Snail Opera Berkeley Law Human Rights Fellowship Grant 2017 for The River Runs Red Georgetown University Environmental Initiative Grant 2017 for The River Runs Red Jessica Roy Award 2016 for The River Runs Red Best Director Award at IdyllWild Film Festival 2015 for Trashborn Best Editing Award at the BAWIFV Film Festival 2013 for Baffle Their Minds With Bullsh*t World Health Organization in Kampala, Uganda. Honorable mention Vietnam and Public Health 2008 James H. Robertson Award for Photography and Studio Arts, Residential College University of Michigan 2007
Film Festivals +YearTitleFestival[this is an incomplete list of screenings]2022When Monsters Walked the EarthAthens International Film Festival 2020The Blessed AssuranceGeorgia Documentary Film Festival2020The Blessed AssuranceAthens International Film Festival 2019The Blessed AssuranceBig Sky Documentary Film Festival2019River Runs RedRio de Janeiro WebDoc2019River Runs RedSeoul Webdoc2018River Runs RedSociety for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival2015TrashbornIdyllWild Film Festival2014TrashbornDocumentary Film Festival in Dominican Republic2014TrashbornFrozen River Film Festival2013TrashbornHabana Film Festival (El Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano)2013Baffle Their Minds with Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighBAWIFV Film Festival in San Francisco2013Baffle Their Minds with Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighSanta Monica Film Festival2013Baffle Their Minds with Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighCollege Town Film Festival2013Baffle Their Minds with Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighAnnapolis Film Festival2013Baffle Their Minds with Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighBethesda Film Festival2012Baffle Their Minds with Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighDC Shorts2012Baffle Their Minds with Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighDC Independent Film Festival2011Water WarriorsWater Rights Film Festival of Japan2008PalindromeOhio Independent Film Festival2008Mexico: Chasing the American DreamNew Filmmakers Latino Anthology2008PalindromeAthens International Film and Video Festival2008PalindromeKansas City Jubilee Film Festival2008PalindromeWashington DC Independent Film Festival2007Water WarriorsEnvironmental Water Festival, Japan2007PalindromeFilm Farm X Festival2007Mexico:Chasing the American DreamGasparilla Film Festival
Filmography +YearTitleDistributor2006Mexico: Chasing the American DreamIzaca Productions2006NGO Crossing Borders in VietnamNGO Crossing Borders2007PalindromeIzaca Productions2007Vietnam: Three Short PoemsIzaca Productions2007Water WarriorsIzaca Productions2007Shakespeare's Sonnet 2Izaca Productions2009Books Unbound: The Heritage Library in QatarCarnegie Mellon University & Qatar Foundation2010ZubarahUniversity of Copenhagen & Qatar Museums Authority2010Miki Flow: Cuban Hip HopIzaca Productions2010Tango in Jerash, Jordan Izaca Productions20106 Day in KazakhstaniCarnegie2011Beirut International Tango FestivalIzaca Productions2011TrashbornPassion River Distribution2011 Mi Aldea Mi Langosta: My Village, My LobsterNomading Films2009/2012SHOOT.EDIT.SHARE, Experimental Ethnographic ShortsIzaca Productions2012Baffle Their Minds With Bullsh*t, Kerry LeighIzaca Productions2012The Souk of AleppoIzaca Productions2012Nepal: Prayer WheelsIzaca Productions2013Las Palomas, Me Encantan (I Love Pigeons)Izaca Productions2016/2019The Golden Snail OperaCultural Anthropology2018The River Runs RedIzaca Productions2018The Blessed AssuranceIzaca Productions2019The Camel RaceIzaca Productions2020The Mississippi MultiverseIzaca Productions / HKW Berlin2020Polyps are a PluriverseIzaca Productions / Feral Atlas2021A Mirror of the EarthIzaca Productions2021A Mirror of the CosmosIzaca Productions / Princess Grace Awards2021When Monsters Walked the EarthIzaca Productions / Imagine Science FF
Installations +YearWork ExhibitedOrganization[this is an incomplete list]2019Songs of Mud - audioPoetics and Politics Symposium / University of California, Santa Cruz2016Tomo/veillance - audioUniversity of California, Santa Cruz Underwater Concert
References
External links Official Website of Isabelle Carbonell