Support: Cultivate! A Youth Climate Documentary

A documentary following five committed BIPOC youth climate activists from Los Angeles as they navigate the challenges of frontline organizing.

Our Story:

Cultivate explores our cultural backgrounds and identities as five BIPOC youth climate activists, centering on our experiences growing up on the frontlines of environmental and climate injustice in Los Angeles. We’re highlighting the systemic issues we face while organizing within the city's multicultural social justice movements, addressing challenges from workers' rights and human trafficking to displacement, homelessness, and gentrification, and show how these intersect with our daily lives in the ever-growing climate emergency.

To fully grasp the complexities of climate activism in Los Angeles, we uncover hidden histories of brutality, redlining, and corruption that persist and continue to obstruct environmental and climate justice. In a rapidly evolving city, we struggle to assert power within a predominantly white-led climate movement. Cultivate shifts this dominant narrative by uplifting the voices of Indigenous, Asian, Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ frontline organizers.

Moreover, we spotlight local community and land-based solutions to the climate crisis in LA, supported by scientific evidence, to bolster grassroots efforts benefiting communities citywide.

Why Support: Cultivate spotlights five LA-based BIPOC youth tackling climate and social justice issues head-on. As BIPOC youth, we are tired of seeing our stories and challenges improperly represented in mainstream media coverage. We are determined to inspire youth everywhere with our personal journeys and creative solutions to the climate crisis.

Mission Statement: Cultivate jumps into the lives of five BIPOC Angeleno youth activists & organizers working on the front lines of climate, indigenous, immigration, labor, & housing justice, showcasing the challenges & victories we face in organizing & how we bring our intersectional background into play.

Our Goal:

This first crowdfunding campaign will support our production for summer 2024.

If we raise $15,000 more than our initial goal, we’ll have funds for continued production.

If we raise $25,000 more than our initial goal, we’ll have funds for post-production.

If we raise $50,000 more than our initial goal, we’ll have funds to pay producing staff and additional operational expenses.

Meet The Team:

Director: Mel Espinoza (he/they) is a first-generation director, editor, organizer, and a child of immigrant parents from Mexico. Since beginning their filmmaking journey at 15, Mel has directed, written, and edited short films and music videos. They have a passion for telling stories that highlight the BIPOC community from growing up less than half a mile from an active oil drilling site near freeways and landfills. Their aunt, Patricia, passed away from cancer when she was 48 and she grew up near oil drilling and toxic waste facilities, this drives Mel's activism, and is currently fighting to shut down the facilities that continue to affect their family and community. In 2019, they joined Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles, where they’ve organized climate strikes and created climate-driven content to highlight an authentic youth perspective. The content they’ve created has informed thousands on social media of the challenges our communities face, including video campaigns targeting Governor Gavin Newsom, the LA City Council, the fossil fuel industry, etc

Writer: Sim Bilal (he/him) is a Korean, Black, and Chickasaw frontline Gen-Z climate organizer from South LA. He is the Writer for Cultivate. He serves as a Los Angeles County youth climate commissioner, the lead organizer of Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles, and the state organizer for the California Green New Deal coalition. Sim is fighting for the enrichment of other local South LA youth, supporting elementary, middle, and high schools through mutual aid programs, and volunteering as a robotics and coding instructor for three years. Sim has been working on integrating tech, activism, and organizing, to address the climate crisis in Los Angeles.

Director of Photography: Ivan Serna (he/him) is a Latino youth leader, born and raised in East Los Angeles, focused on youth empowerment and environmental justice, and incredibly passionate about diverse narratives in media and entertainment. Ivan previously organized with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Youth Council for Climate Action, STAND LA Coalition, and Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles. His activism brings awareness to urban oil drilling sites in Los Angeles, the harm it poses to the community, and the fight for a livable future by permanently exiling fossil fuels. He has seamlessly merged his skills in filmmaking with community issues that are of substantial matter. He looks forward to working with people on stories that engage with diverse demographics and bring attention to disadvantaged communities that social justice issues have disproportionately impacted.

Producer: Steven Starr (he/him) is the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion-LA, and a longtime advocate of Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles. Steven started as a concert promoter for Bob Marley & The Wailers, headed the New York film office for the William Morris Agency, produced independent films, The State for MTV and CBS, then co-founded the LA Independent Media Center, ran KPFK-FM, help to establish the Right To Water at the United Nations with his Sundance production of FLOW: For Love of Water, and served as a producer on the Oscar-nominated urban farming documentary The Garden. His digital efforts include an Emmy nomination for pioneering the online creator economy with Revver.com, co-creation for Occupy Wall Street and 350.org, and the 2024 launch of a fully decentralized internet with Freenet.org.