UNR student produces, directs environmental documentary called Beyond the Shell [Video]

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – The Beyond The Shell Project is the brainchild of UNR PhD student, Alexandria Firenzi. The project and the film first came to her in 2021. Firenzi started thinking about how the closure of the fishing season affected Indigenous communities, local businesses on the coast and the red abalone creature.

The documentary focuses on California’s red abalone population, highlights the coastal cultures and economies which rely on this scarce marine resource. Beyond the Shell argues for the responsible and sustainable management of California’s red abalone populations in collaboration with Indigenous groups who have been managing local intertidal systems along the eastern Pacific coastlines for generations. The film also highlights how archaeology, in collaboration with cultural stakeholders, has the potential to reveal past climate systems and traditional maintenance of the eastern Pacific’s intertidal enabling more informed environmental policy and management plans.

Firenzi stopped by Morning Break to talk about the project and the film, and invite the community to a …