Introducing CS Students' Sustainability Initiatives: Smoothies & Movies
Who are you?
Hei, my name is Andrzej Tarasiuk and I recently finished my Master’s Thesis in Creative Sustainability design track here at Aalto. Depending on how things go I might be doing more stuff at Aalto for a few more years. I am also a practicing multidisciplinary artist for 20+ years and my work is currently focused on the interactions and tensions between nature, technology, and art.
What are Smoothies & Movies?
Smoothies & Movies is an evening where anyone can come to enjoy a film and a smoothie free of cost thanks to Space 21. There is usually a connection between the smoothie flavor/ingredients and the film. The screenings are organized into rounds, each with its individual theme. Our latest, Round 9 “Screencast Adventures” runs between February 6 - 26, 2025, with Round 10 already planned. The events usually take place on Thursday evenings. The best way to stay in touch is to . You can also check out thanks to the Aalto Sustainability Action Booster grant (SAB).
Over the past 2 years, the event was made possible with the sponsorship and hosting by Space 21. About a year into it, the SAB grant allowed the purchase of multiple films to form a physical collection, as getting films from the library or the internet came with limitations.
I would like to highlight that many people have volunteered their time and skills to help the event: Jason Selvarajan (Space 21 logistics), Daniel Hurtado (web development), Nathan Pottier (poster design), three different CRUST (Creative Sustainability student association) boards (poster printing/distribution), Katie Ballinger + Giorgia Morandi + Pragati Singhal + Callisté Mastrandréas (event logistics), Monika Hauck + Albert Figurt (Curation of Rounds 6 & 9 respectively).
When and why did you start this initiative?
The first official screening was “White Men Can’t Jump” on March 23, 2023. The idea got going by accident. The original Smoothies & Movies was something I did with a friend at the Ontario College of Art and Design way back in 2001. I met Jason Selvarajan as a SLUSH 2022 volunteer and he invited me to Space 21 for a tour of the space where amongst many different things he highlighted that the kitchen had a great blender for smoothies. I mentioned that it reminded me of what I did in Canada and he asked if I wanted to do it here. That conversation got the ball rolling and the event slowly took shape over a few months. It was a way to let people know Space 21 existed and to open up a space to anyone interested in film culture regardless of their study program.
At first, the idea was to watch things that had nothing to do with the Creative Sustainability (CS) program as a break from all the complex problems we were learning about. By the time we got the SAB grant things had a rhythm and a small following. With the money, we had a new mandate of connecting the films in different ways to the themes in the CS program which led to small discussions after each film, which is currently one of my favorite things about the event.
How do you select the movies?
There is no formula and it varies from round to round. The conversation is ongoing and I keep my ears open to people's suggestions, combining them when possible with my personal sense and interests. With the SAB grant, I focused on films in the Criterion Collection. This helped to focus on titles of films that were already recognized as worthy of preservation, restoration, and upscaling to newly available formats such as 4K. From that collection I sought out films that were mostly not from North America; that told a variety of human stories from different cultures and backgrounds; had a healthy representation of films made by women or at least centered on female characters; and that themes explored in the films could be connected to the conversations we were having in the CS program. For rounds 6 and 9, we had a guest curator who made the selection. Both of these opportunities organically presented themselves at an opportune moment and will likely bring further collaborations.
What have you learned from hosting movie screenings?
I learned that there is a community of people who enjoy smoothies no matter what unusual combinations of ingredients I come up with. I also learned that there is room for growth and support for such an event here and now at Aalto, people like watching and talking about films with others.
What are your plans for the future of Smoothies & Movies?
For now, I will continue to organize these events around different themes. There are still a bunch of films in the collection I have not had the chance to screen, so I will start with that. Also, I would love to expand the collection further and screen some films at the new Marsio cinema. If things really line up, organizing a film festival from the ground up would also be interesting.
Do you have any advice for people thinking of starting a sustainability initiative?
Find people to help you. Make sure that your action is interesting to you and within your ability to execute regardless of how much support you receive. Think about the logistics and time so that it does not cause you unnecessary stress or anxiety. There will always be some of that but if you are enjoying what you are doing and you are doing it with people you enjoy spending time with you are already succeeding. No action is irrelevant: we usually don’t know how what we do reverberates throughout society and time. So, do it to the best of your ability, be willing to adjust your idea to the realities of bringing ideas to life, learn, adapt, and share your insights, minimize waste, reuse/upcycle when possible, and enjoy the process.
Which movies would you recommend to those interested in sustainability?
Hmm, given the variety of issues that this term touches, all the films in our collection speak to one aspect or another. That said, for a very direct look at human presence and effect on the planet, Godfrey Reggio’s “Qatsi” trilogy (I would love to screen that at Marsio). On a more intimate level, Gregory Nava’s “El Norte” made a big impression on me.
The most recent round of Smoothies & Movies is called "Screencast Adventures". It focuses on post-cinematic storytelling that unravels entirely within the perimeter of a computer screen or desktop-based movie subgenre.
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