Facts alone rarely change behavior, but storytelling can. A single image or scene can make complex issues personal, turning awareness into connection and connection into action. This became the foundation of Creators for the Planet.

Rather than focusing on genre or format, Creators for the Planet celebrates stories that move people to care, what Sony calls Kando (the Japanese word for feeling). The program supports visual storytellers—filmmakers, photographers, and animators—whose work illuminates environmental and social challenges. Through initiatives like the Sustainability Prize within the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards and the Sony World Photography Awards, as well as the Visual Storytelling Alliance with Conservation International, creators gain mentorship, resources, and global visibility. Many are also connected to NGOs like the United Nations Foundation, helping their impact reach further and last longer.

For Rego and Gunsberg, the results reaffirm Kando and the deep emotional responses that art can evoke. Whether through awe, empathy, or hope, that feeling is what turns experiences into action. In screenings and exhibitions, they’ve seen it firsthand. Audiences leave not discouraged by crisis but energized by possibility.

Among this year’s Sustainability Prize winners is Australian filmmaker Kirsten Slemint, whose documentary Burnt Country explores the Indigenous practice of cultural burning and its role in restoring balance to Australia’s ecosystems.

• Burnt Country, Kirsten Slemint（opens new window）

Slemint’s path to filmmaking began outside the creative world. After working in a different field, she decided to attend university—the first in her family to do so—driven by a fascination with science and a belief that communication could bridge the gap between research and public opinion. She studied both science and journalism and eventually discovered filmmaking could become that bridge.

Her scientific studies introduced her to a painful irony. Even as an Australian, she had never learned about the traditional ecological wisdom of Indigenous cultures. That realization and the devastating 2019–2020 bushfires became the twin sparks behind Burnt Country.

The film invites viewers to “connect to country,” an Indigenous concept describing the spiritual, cultural, and environmental ties between people and the Earth. Building on that, it turns to what Slemint calls a “soft gaze,” facing difficult truths with openness rather than defensiveness. Instead of anger or blame, she wanted to create space for understanding. “If all I’ve done is open that door,” she says, “that’s success.”

It wasn’t easy. As a student filmmaker, she took on nearly every role herself—director, producer, cinematographer, and more. One of her favorite memories is of her mother on set, hand in her daughter’s back pocket as they walked through a recently burned forest, guiding her through the ash and smoke as she filmed the scene. “I don’t think she’s ever done anything like that before,” Slemint recalls, “but there we were, in it together.”

That spirit of collaboration continued in post-production, where her team helped elevate the film beyond her expectations. “Every time we faced a decision,” she says, “we asked, ‘What does the film need?’”

The answer has since echoed around the world. Burnt Country has been nominated for the BAFTA and Grierson British Documentary Awards, and was a finalist at the Oscars. Indigenous communities have also used it to support grant applications, leading to measurable benefits.

Now Slemint is giving back—using her $5,000 prize money from the Sustainability Prize to create a free film program for Indigenous youth, and she is also developing a feature-length version of Burnt Country as an international co-production. “The short was a proof of concept,” she says. “The feature is the evolution.”

For Kasia Strek, a Polish photographer based in France, the path to environmental storytelling began with Jane Goodall’s Book of Hope. After years covering gender-based violence, trauma and conflict she felt the weight of it all and needed light. Reading Goodall’s words sparked an idea for the work that became Repairing the Earth—a photo project created with journalists from France’s leading newspaper, Le Monde. The project is a reminder that our actions matter and that solutions, not just crises, can restore both personal and public faith in change.

Across Benin, India, and Romania, Strek documented people and organizations quietly healing a damaged Earth—restoring forests, cleaning waterways and rebuilding ecosystems. Each story proved that progress often begins with ordinary people choosing to act.

In Copenhagen, she saw how both political and cultural shifts—like biking instead of driving, furnishing homes secondhand, and flying less—translated into significant drops in CO₂ emissions. “It shows change is possible when people care,” she says. “It’s so important to talk not only about what’s wrong but also what’s right.”

Her photography unites aesthetics and activism. Trained in fine art, she approaches documentary work with the same eye for emotion and balance. “Art makes us feel,” she says, “and feeling moves us more than facts ever could.” Through that approach, she hopes to connect viewers from far, far away to lives and landscapes they might otherwise never see.

• Sustainability Prize Winner 2025 - Kasia Strek（opens new window）
• Repairing the Earth by Kasia Strek | World Photography Organisation

After Repairing the Earth was published, the ripple effects were immediate. Some of the people she photographed received offers of support and funding for their initiatives. “That’s real-world impact,” she says. “That’s what makes this work worth it.”

Now Strek is turning her lens toward Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, one of Europe’s last wild regions. This wilderness survived not because of protection policies but as a result of decades of poverty and state control over the Romanian people. As modernization accelerates, she wants to capture the delicate balance between progress and preservation—and show what coexistence between people and nature can look like, at least in this part of Europe.

As Rego and Gunsberg often remind creators, authenticity and empathy are the true engines of lasting change. “Lead with purpose, and let sincerity do the work,” they say—a reminder that every meaningful story begins from the heart.

Across these conversations—from Sony’s sustainability offices to creative studios around the world—it’s clear that creativity can and should include responsibility. When stories awaken empathy, they don’t just inform. They transform.

These creators are proving that change itself is a creative act. Each frame, each decision, each small act of care becomes part of a larger story that we’re all writing together.