MY HERO Project Presents the 2025 Dan Eldon Award

CONTACT: Jeanne Meyers                                                                                                                                              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Co-founder/Director
The MY HERO Project
[email protected]

Kathy Eldon, Amy Eldon-Turteltaub & Daniel Eldon-Turteltaub of Creative Visions Foundation present the Dan Eldon Activist Award, celebrating stories that honor Kathy’s late son Dan Eldon, a fearless activist, artist, and photojournalist who was killed on assignment in Somalia in 1993. Dan dedicated his life to telling the untold stories of those in need.

This year's recipients of the Dan Eldon Activist Award are What We Choose Not to See by Meilin Shen and Dylan Han and Pride of the Gobi by Will Parrinello.

What We Choose Not to See is a documentary that explores how U.S. cities have responded to the homelessness crisis by criminalizing encampments following a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that upheld such bans. It reveals the hidden consequences of these policies, including the displacement of unhoused people into neighboring cities, overwhelmed shelters, and the criminal justice system.

In Pride of the Gobi, we follow the story of 81-year-old Batmunkh Luvsandash who was determined to protect his homeland from mining. His activism resulted in the creation of a 66,000-acre protected area in Dornogovi province, abutting hundreds of thousands of acres already protected by him and his allies. Home to Argali sheep, 75% of the world’s population of endangered Asiatic wild ass, and a wide variety of endemic plants, the protected area forms an important bulwark against Mongolia’s mining boom.

Attending to present the award was Daniel Eldon Thurtle Taub (Dan’s nephew), who reflected on his uncle’s life and legacy. He shared that Dan was an extraordinary person who, along with his sister Amy, grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. Their mother taught them the importance of problem-solving, creative activism, shining a light on injustice, and seeking solutions to the challenges facing the world.

DanielMY HERO

Daniel explained that his uncle was inspired by the people around him and used photography to tell their stories. At just 14 years old, Dan learned of a young girl in need of a heart operation and organized a fundraiser to help save her life. At 15, he supported a family by helping a Maasai mother sell her handmade jewelry so she could earn enough to send her children to school. At 19, Dan led a group of 15 young people on a safari across Africa to deliver aid to refugee camps in Malawi. At 21, he documented the devastating famine in Somalia, and his photographs helped spark a global aid mission that ultimately saved hundreds of lives.

Daniel added: “Sadly, my Uncle Dan was killed at the age of 22, together with three other journalists, while trying to tell an important story similar to the ones we are celebrating. After his death, my mother and Nana decided to start a foundation to empower creative storytellers who want to mobilize people around issues that are important to them. They describe them as creative activists. Today we are honoring amazing creative activists, filmmakers who are telling stories designed to get people to take action. It was tough to choose because all the finalists told great stories about important issues, but three storytellers managed to do it all: entertain, inform, and, through the power of their storytelling, inspire viewers to want to roll up their sleeves and get involved. So, thank you so much to Milan Shen, and Dylan Hahn for What We Choose Not to See and Will Parrinello for Pride of the Goby. People, like you guys, keep my Uncle’s spark alive and blazing; keep lighting the flame of creative activism because without it, everything around us would be dark.”

MY HEROMeilin, Dylan et all

Meilin Shen, Dylan Han, and fellow students accepted their award, stating: “It is such an honor to receive this award, especially because of Dan Elon's legacy at creativity, compassion, and courage. Thank you for supporting young activists and filmmakers like ourselves and giving us space for homeless individual stories to be told.”

MY HEROWill Parrinello

Legendary, award-winning filmmaker Will Parrinello was also in attendance. He thanked the Eldons for the award, stating that his work would not be possible without the people that he profiles, including Batmunkh Luvsandash, the hero in Pride of the Gobi. Batmunkh sent Will a message for the Festival: “As a proud citizen of Mongolia, I'm happy to greet you, my brothers and sisters in the United States of America. The greatest gift we can all leave our children and grandchildren is clean air, a healthy environment, and the beautiful planet we inherited from our ancestors. Mother Earth and Father Sky deserve our ultimate respect. I'm very happy that Will Parrinello and my other think-alike friends from the USA came to Mongolia to document my efforts and created the short documentary Pride of the Goby. As a native born in Doden Goby Province, I wanted to preserve the pristine environment and natural beauty of my place of birth.  Since the film was completed, the total number of acres I've protected from illegal mining activities has grown from nearly 250,000."

Will shared that he is going to donate the prize money to the Mongolian Ecology Center in Ulaanbaatar whose president, B Yan, Will’s field producing partner on the film, will create a youth education program to teach Mongolian students and inspire the next generation to protect and defend the environment.

PART TWO - MY HERO International Film Festival's Virtual Awards Ceremony

Please join us online, Saturday, January 10, 2026, as the MY HERO International Film Festival announces and celebrates more winning filmmakers from the 2025 festival. Special Award categories include the Relationships First Award, presented by the Foundation for the Contemporary Family, the Animation Awards, presented by Wacom, the Mattie Stepanek Poetry Prize, the People's Choice Award, the Community Heroes Award and more.

Location: Virtual event

Date and time: Sat, Jan 10, 2026 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PT

The MY HERO International Film Festival celebrates the power of media to inspire compassion, understanding, and action, while uplifting young voices committed to telling stories that matter.

About the MY HERO International Film Festival

The My Hero Film Festival is an annual event dedicated to showcasing films that celebrate the power of the human spirit. The festival provides a platform for filmmakers to share inspirational stories of everyday heroes. Thanks to generous sponsors, prizes are awarded to elementary, middle school, high school, college and professionals in a variety of categories including documentary, narrative, music video, animation, experimental, and more.

The festival aims to inspire audiences to recognize the heroism in their own lives and encourage positive actions in their communities. Learn more.