Viz professor's nature video nets Global Independent Film Award

A glimpse into nature’s life cycle captured on video by Carol LaFayette, Texas A&M professor of visualization, earned a prestigious 2018 Global Independent Film Award recognizing excellence in filmmaking.

LaFayette’s entry, “ [Food Fight] (https://vimeo.com/223506081) ,” stars a [white-eyed vireo] (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-eyed_Vireo/id) , a small bird similar to a wood warbler, feeding two chicks — one of them an interloping [cowbird] (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/overview) — until nature intervenes. The video earned second place in the international completion’s environmental category honoring filmmakers who showcase the natural order without intervention.

She shot “Food Fight” in the 40-acre woods surrounding her studio located outside College Station, Texas using a 4K GoPro camera modified with a telephoto lens.

Her work, she said, “is based in exploring connections between flora, fauna, people and phenomena, creating conditions to uniquely experience them and then responding to what happens.”

LaFayette directs the [Institute for Applied Creativity] (http://creativity.arch.tamu.edu/) at the Texas A&M College of Architecture where she holds the Harold L. Adams Interdisciplinary Professorship in Visualization.

Her film work has previously won the Gold Remi Award for historical shorts at [WorldFest Houston] (https://worldfest.org/) ; the Silver Shoestring Award at [Rochester International Film and Video Festival] (http://rochesterfilmfest.org/) ; the Artist’s Showcase Award at [Manhattan Arts International] (https://manhattanarts.com/) , and a [Zebra Poetry on Film Festival Award.] (http://www.zebrapoetryfilm.org/2018/)

Sarah Wilson
swilson@arch.tamu.edu