PEOPLE DON'T SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE TREATMENT OF QUEER AND TRANS PEOPLE.
We need to start having different conversations about how to address the powerful changes that need to happen for us to survive and to thrive as a community, as a people, as a species.
- Javier Armando Rivera-Rosales
Former Director of Positive Images
LGBTQ+ Youth Center
During the 2017 fires in Santa Rosa, CA
Watch the Trailer
About the Film
FIRE & FLOOD: QUEER RESILIENCE
IN THE ERA OF CLIMATE CHANGE
tells the story of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the fires in Santa Rosa, California, two-near simultaneous climate-related disasters in the fall of 2017, through the voices of LGBTQ people who lived through them and were part of the community response. The film explores the vulnerability of LGBTQ communities to climate disasters and also lifts up queer and trans strategies for resilience, transition, and survival.
"Fire and Flood" was piloted at the National LGBTQ Task Force's Creating Change Conference in January, 2018, with positive feedback on the need for these stories in the LGBTQ movement.
FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH
Brooke Anderson, Layel Camargo, and Mateo Nube
Movement Generation
Eliseo Rivas,
Former Program Coordinator at LGBTQ Connection
Elokin Orton-Cheung,
Shooting Star Botanicals
Fe Fugá, Resident in Isabela, PR
Javier Armando Rivera-Rosales,
Former Director of Positive Images
Kanyon Sayers-Rood,
Kanyon Konsulting & Two-Spirit Society of Indian Canyon
L Frank Manriquez,
Tongva/Ajachmem artist, writer and tribal activist
Lucecita Cruz, Cuir Kitchen Brigade
Marcelo Felipe Garzo Montalvo,
Graduate Student in Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Marielle De Leon,
Transfeminist Activist from La Sombrilla Cuir
Nelson Pagán Butler, Camila Padín, Bianca P. Ortiz Núñez, Valeria Fernández,
Graduate Students at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Patty Berne, Co-Founder and Director of Sins Invalid
Sally Ortiz Castro,
Healer, artist, gardener, and teacher with Huerto Vida
Tara Rodríguez Besosa and Verónica Quiles Maldonado,
El Departamento de la Comida
Tre Vasquez,
Lead Organizer of North Bay Organizing Project
Representation Matters
About the Team
FILMMAKER
Vanessa Raditz, MPH
Vanessa Raditz is an environmental health researcher, youth educator, and culture-shifter dedicated to community healing, opening access to land and resources, and fostering a thriving local economy based on human and ecological resilience. Vanessa received their Master of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley, and currently studies in the Geography PhD program at University of Georgia. Vanessa is part of the founding collective of the Queer Ecojustice Project, educating and organizing at the intersection of ecological justice and queer liberation.
Vanessa co-organized the Queers4ClimateJustice contingent to the RISE March for Climate, Jobs, and Justice in fall of 2018 and continues to manage the #Queers4ClimateJustice instagram. The "Fire and Flood" film project is rooted in Vanessa's lived experience of the 2017 fires in Northern California.
MUSIC PRODUCTION
Shea Freedom
In song or as a speaker, you can find Freedom advocating for foster youth, human rights and environmental issues. Born in Los Angeles Freedom was raised in California’s foster care system where he was subject to 28 different placements. Like 68% of foster youth, Freedom emancipated into homelessness. No doubt the early instability would prepare him for the fast paced life on the road. He has found his home on stages across the nation. Freedom was awarded the 2016 Rising Star Award by Black Trans Men Inc and has shared the stage with renowned artists.
TRANSLATION, ACCESSIBILITY
& OUTREACH TEAM
Adriana Pericchi Domínguez,
Spanish Transcription & Translation
Jo Galvis,
Cuir Kitchen Brigade Footage Assistance,
English & Spanish Captioning
Matti Bautista,
Editing and Animation
Ínaru De La Fuente Díaz & Sora Ferri, La Sombrilla Cuir
PR Liaisons & Spanish-Language Outreach
Grassroots Film Project
LEAD PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Zephyr Elise
Zephyr Elise is a Two-Spirit artist, filmmaker, animator, and ecojustice activist. They graduated from Evergreen State College with a B.A. in Documentary Film/ Animation specializing in Queer and Indigenous studies. Their media work has since been focused almost exclusively on assisting Native Nations in language revitalization and cultural reclamation work. They are a co-founder of Mason County Climate Justice and co-facilitate a non-violent direct action praxis group. Their next public appearance will be in local prisons working with incarcerated people on emotional resilience in a time of climate and social crisis.
