Brandon Gaesser | Advanced Environmental Research Institute

Brandon Gaesser

Assistant Professor Media Arts, Documentary Production & Studies
E-mail Address: 
Brandon.Gaesser@unt.edu
Office: 
Media Arts, 272A

Brandon joined the Media Arts Faculty in the fall of 2023 to teach documentary cinematography and production courses. He earned an MFA in Documentary Film from Wake Forest University, where he served as a teaching assistant for courses in environmental journalism, cinematography and sound, and advanced cinematography and was a producer for WFU's Wrought Iron Productions.

Brandon's research interests focus on environmental issues such as ecosystem degradation, water/air/soil pollution, climate change, and environmental racism. Documentary film provides the platform to explore the strained relationship between humans and nature.

His past work includes documenting the research of WFU's Department of Engineering and the non-profit Yadkin River Keeper as they studied local watersheds to provide accessible water quality information to local communities. This research and short documentary film were published online in the journal Nature in 2023.

Brandon's thesis film, Chicken Soup for the Soil, which features the work of regenerative farmers in North Carolina, won several film festival awards and was picked up by The Weather Channel for streaming on its program, Pattrn. It also won the KSMQ (Minnesota) Public Television Award and will be broadcast on PBS throughout North Carolina in the spring of 2025.

With an emphasis on grassroots storytelling, Brandon will continue to bring local residents, organizations, and academic communities together in collaboration to facilitate change and to communicate the science behind the stories to a wider audience. Toward this end, Brandon presented "Science Filmmaking: Expanding Audiences by Turning Research into Stories" during AERI's Better Together Seminar Series. His production company is Good Natured Films.