SOUTH BEND — Spending the holidays at his parents’ house this week, Greenfield native Zach Schrank had quite a story to share with family and friends.
The 40-year-old filmmaker won the Indiana Spotlight Award at the 32nd annual Heartland International Film Festival in October.
His winning film, “LIMINAL: Indiana in the Anthropocene,” hit the Indiana-focused streaming platform Hoodox on Dec. 8.
Anthropocene refers to the current geological age, viewed as the period in which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
Schrank, director of the Center for a Sustainable Future at Indiana University South Bend, said the film encourages the viewer to reflect on their relationship with the local environment by revealing humans’ impact on earth.
Lasting just under an hour, the non-narrative film is told strictly through aerial drone footage of 40 different locations throughout Indiana, set to a score created by Ft. Wayne composer Nate Utesch.
“Every single shot is captured by a drone flying around the state. It has this surreal, hovering feel to it,” said Schrank, who entered the foray of filmmaking just five years ago.
His latest film, which he created and directed, showcases his passion for environmental sociology, one of the topics he teaches at IU South Bend.
He’s especially intrigued by Anthropocene, “the time in which humans are the greatest driving force in all sorts of planetary change,” he said.
Rather than being a call to arms for environmental change, Schrank said his latest film is more of an educational tool to teach people about the impact they make on earth.
“Humans are playing a bigger role than they ever have before,” he said. “A lot of people who study the science beyond biology, geology and sociology have become very interested in that concept.”
Schrank said he based his film off the 2018 documentary, “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch,” which explores the impact humanity has had and continues to have on natural development.
“My film came from an attempt to try to document that but just within the boundaries of Indiana, rather than on a planetary scale. I wanted to challenge myself to show something global in a more local space,” he said.
Schrank, a ninth generation Indiana resident, said he wanted to tell the story from the perspective of a lifelong Hoosier.
“It’s not that the story is exclusive to Indiana, but it’s a microfocus of a global story. Everybody in the world impacts the world in their own unique way,” he said.
Schrank, whose parents are David and Rhonda of Greenfield, admits he had no interest in filmmaking when he graduated from Greenfield-Central High School in 2002.
He went on to attend Indiana University in Bloomington and the University of Arizona, and eventually became a professor at IU South Bend.
He now embraces the ability to combine his passions for the environment and sociology through film.
Rocky Walls, executive director of Hoodox — the streaming service that features only Hoosier-inspired content — said Schrank’s latest film is a perfect fit for his company.
“This film represents the same kind of Hoosier filmmaking spirit that inspired the founding of Hoodox — that a few creative individuals saw something incredible on a global scale and said, ‘We should make something like that here, just for Indiana,’” he said.
Walls said Schrank’s film is a unique story with a profound impact.
“As much as it is a documentary film to be watched, it’s an immersive experience to really make you think,” he said.
Schrank said the documentary is “a very Indiana project that worked its way through various Indiana channels. The imagery in the film is really scattered all across the state, and makes you think about your place as a Hoosier in a variety of ways.”
He and the film’s editor and cinematographer, Aaron Yoder, completed a six-month statewide screening tour of their film in the fall, sponsored by Hoodox and the Indiana Humanities.
Scrank said winning the coveted Indiana Spotlight Award and accompanying $2,000 cash prize at the Heartland International Film Festival was an ideal way to cap off the experience.
To learn more, visit LiminalMovie.com.
