AUNUA Youth Ambassador Blog Series
She Picked Up a Camera at 15 and Started Changing the World.
“Storytelling remains one of the most vital tools in our collective struggle to reverse climate change.”
Kasha Sequoia Slavner was 15 years old when she decided that a camera could be more powerful than a protest sign.
Rather than simply speaking about the issues she cared about, she chose to show them — to find the human stories behind the headlines, point a lens at them, and let the world see what she saw.
She chose not just to talk about change. She chose to show it.
Building her own platform
That decision led to the founding of The Global Sunrise Project, a positive-impact media organisation built on the belief that storytelling can create real, lasting social change.
Her first feature documentary, The Sunrise Storyteller, proved that belief right.
The film screened at over 61 international film festivals and won 31 awards — including Best Documentary at the Carmarthen Bay BAFTA Awards Qualifying Film Festival.
For a teenage filmmaker making her debut, it was an extraordinary achievement.
But for Kasha, it was just the beginning.
Kasha's first feature documentary travelled to more than 61 international film festivals and received 31 awards.
1.5 Degrees of Peace
Her most recent project, 1.5 Degrees of Peace, goes even further.
The film follows two young activists fighting to protect their homelands and futures from the deeply connected forces of militarisation and climate collapse.
It is not a film about despair.
It is a film about courage.
About young people who refuse to look away from the hardest problems of their generation, and who are searching for hope while holding leaders accountable.
Recognition beyond the screen
In 2021, Kasha received the Wonder Grant for Sustainability from the Shawn Mendes Foundation — a recognition of the impact her work was already having on the global conversation around climate and peace.
That same year, she was selected as one of just 25 young people worldwide for the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs Leaders4Tomorrow programme.
Selected for the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs Leaders4Tomorrow programme in 2021.
Her work has since been featured in National Geographic Learning, Elle Magazine, ATMOS, PhotoVogue, and Thred, among many other publications.
Turning stories into action
Through The Global Sunrise Project, Kasha uses documentary screenings, photography exhibitions, and educational workshops to bring climate stories to audiences who might never otherwise encounter them.
She understands that data and policy can only go so far — that it is the human story, told honestly and with care, that moves people from awareness to action.
A statistic can inform someone. A story can make them care.
You do not have to wait for a platform
Kasha Sequoia Slavner is proof that young people do not have to wait for a platform — they can build one.
At 15, she picked up a camera.
From there came a media organisation, an internationally recognised documentary, dozens of film festival screenings, global recognition, and a growing body of work connecting climate justice, peace, and young people's voices.
AUNUA Youth Ambassador
At AUNUA, we are proud to have Kasha Sequoia Slavner as one of our Youth Ambassadors, and inspired by a filmmaker who uses every frame to fight for a more just and peaceful world.
She picked up a camera at 15. Then she built a platform for stories the world needed to see.