Food & Film Challenge Winner Spotlight: Grace Mimnagh

Grace Mimnagh (age 9) was the Nourish Food & Film Challenge winner for 2020 — our youngest winner ever! She impressed us all with the creativity and energy she put into her winning short film, “Climate Change - Food,” which taught us about the impact our food has on the environment and vice-versa. Watch Grace’s film here: Climate Change - Food.

Grace also took the $500 she won for food programming in her community and managed to turn it into a $3000 donation for the Lions Christmas Express! Find out more about Grace’s donation here.

We asked Grace a few questions about her experience participating in the Food & Film Challenge.

Q1. What was your favourite part of making your film, Climate Change - Food?

“The best parts were making it and directing my family, researching with my mom and learning about climate change.  I liked adding the jokes and humour to my video.  I enjoyed watching my out-takes, they made everyone laugh.”

Q2. What was the biggest challenge?

“Keeping things going when things were getting harder.  I was worried that I would not finish the film.  Also when the cow licked my head it was kind of horrible too.”

Q3. What was one thing you learned?

“I learned about methane gas, and having too much of one thing is not good. Also learned that climate change can affect how some animals survive. I also learned about film making, learned about different shots, lighting, and sound. I also learned that grass fed cows make much less methane gas than grain fed cows.”

Q4. Do you plan to make more films in the future?

“Yes! I’ve already made two more! One was to donate the $500 I won to the Lions Christmas Express (food charity), where we raised $3000 from my $500. Second is a short I made as a Christmas skit for my family.”

Bonus question: What is your favourite food?

“Honestly!..  Cucumber Salad with a side of my dad’s BBQ ribs.”

Thanks to Grace for answering our questions and being such an inspiration to young filmmakers everywhere. Stay tuned for more information about the Nourish Food & Film Challenge 2021 (coming soon)!