Isabelle Carbonell

Isabelle Carbonell is a Belgian-Uruguayan-American award-winning experimental documentary filmmaker and a PhD Candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Some of Carbonell's work comprise the following academic publications:

• Coming to Our Senses beyond the Talking-Head: the Panesthetic Documentary Interview (2018)
• The Ethics of Big Data in Big Agriculture (2016)
• Golden Snail Opera: the More-Than-Human-Performance of Friendly Farming on Taiwan's Lanyang Plain (2016)

Carbonell is currently a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also received her B.A. in Residential College Social Science and in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI and completed her M.A. in Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

• Mellon Dissertation grant Beyond the End of the World 2019-2020
• Best Digital Media Award from Fingerlakes Environmental Film Festival 2019 for The River Runs Red
• Best Ethnographic Interactive Award from the American Anthropological Association 2018 for The River Runs Red
• Honorable Mention for Cultural Horizons Prize 2017 for Golden Snail Opera
• Berkeley Law Human Rights Fellowship Grant 2017 for The River Runs Red
• Georgetown University Environmental Initiative Grant 2017 for The River Runs Red
• Jessica Roy Award 2016 for The River Runs Red
• Best Director Award at IdyllWild Film Festival 2015 for Trashborn
• Best Editing Award at the BAWIFV Film Festival 2013 for Baffle Their Minds With Bullsh*t
• World Health Organization in Kampala, Uganda. Honorable mention Vietnam and Public Health 2008
• James H. Robertson Award for Photography and Studio Arts, Residential College University of Michigan 2007

2018

Carbonell was a Leading Instructor/Course Designer for a film production course at the University of California, Santa Cruz for Ecocinema Theory and Practice.

2004

Carbonell worked as a Co-Instructor/Course Designer at Your World Through Your Lens: A Photo Education through the University of Michigan Detroit, MI. This was an intensive 2-month photography class with disadvantaged inner-city youths in Detroit. Here, she designed and coordinated all lesson plans and speakers for the duration of the workshop. She received several grants for projects; learned and refined grant-writing skills. Students successfully finished individual photo stories, exhibited at 555 gallery.

Isabelle was the Leading Instructor/Writer at the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) through the University of Michigan, Dearborn, MI. Here she taught an intensive theater and poetry class to incarcerated youths, engaged extremely difficult participants to successfully write and act out their own work, as well as produce a successful performance to a 500+ audience while still incarcerated.

2009

Carbonell worked as a Leading Instructor/Course Designer at Carnegie Mellon University/Q Class "Documentary Filmmaking for Software Design" in Doha, Qatar. She developed original undergraduate curriculum material for a semester-long class, taught documentary filmmaking for cross-platform applications in producing and presenting research and her students completed original documentary and screenings in front of 300+ audience on Carnegie Mellon campus.

2012

Isabelle was a Leading Instructor at a National Geographic VisionWorkshop Photo Camp in Doha, Qatar. She taught photography and film to underserved communities and youths from Qatar and Brazil.

2004

Carbonell as participated in numerous photo exhibitions and film festivals such as the DC Film Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival, and Gasparilla Film Festival, and has been featured in a Michigan Difference PSA. She is noted for her work with NGO Crossing Borders in Vietnam, and has been discussed in numerous press articles including the New York Times, the Michigan Daily, and the University of Michigan LSA Magazine, as well as being featured in a Local Point television interview.

Her work has been published in several places including Skipping Stones Magazine, Gourmet.com, Convergence Journal, and the Oleander Review; she received special and honorable mentions in the World Health Organization's photo competition and the Islands 19th Annual Photo Contest. Her documentary work has taken her to countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Dominican Republic, India, Qatar, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Played all roles (Producing, directing, cinematography and editing).