The 27th Annual Environmental Film Festival Returns at Pivotal Moment for the Climate
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Media Contact: Travis Hare
The 27th Annual Environmental Film Festival Returns at Pivotal Moment for the Climate
In light of dire findings by the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change, this year’s festival serves as a call to action to save the planet.
Washington DC (February 26, 2019) The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF), the largest environmental festival in the world and the longest running in the U.S., returns on March 14th and runs until March 24th. This year’s festival will present over 100 films at 25 different locations around Washington, DC, including museums, universities, embassies, libraries and theaters.
DCEFF is particularly excited to announce this year’s partnership with National Geographic, who will host several major speakers and films, including a virtual reality documentary about Bears Ears National Monument in National Geographic’s newly opened VR theater. National Geographic is a Presenting Sponsor of the Festival and will serve as the Festival’s Main Stage.
While the mission of DCEFF has always been to celebrate Earth and inspire understanding and stewardship of the environment through the power of film, this year’s festival has taken on a distinct gravity in the wake of the dire findings by the International Panel on Climate Change. That sobering U.N. report focused on the impacts of changes already underway – increasing severe weather, rising sea levels and disappearing biodiversity, while highlighting new threats from industry, deregulations and development. To emphasize the sense of urgency, the report determined that we have just 12 years to radically change our behavior toward the environment in order to escape some of the worst predicted outcomes of global warming. In light of this emergency, DCEFF sees this year’s festival as a clarion call for urgent action.
“This year’s festival could not be happening at a more pivotal moment,” says Christopher Head, Executive Director of The Environmental Film Festival. “The films highlighted this year will not only illuminate the crisis at hand, but speak to what we can do as a civilization to save our planet. The sheer beauty of Earth, depicted in many of this year’s films, is in itself enough to make people want to take action immediately.”
Some other highlights of the festival’s National Geographic screenings include Opening Night (Thursday, March 14 at 7pm), with the DC premiere of The River and the Wall. The documentary by Ben Masters follows five friends on an adventure through the gorgeous, unknown wilds of the Texas border region, while the threat of a wall that would devastate the natural landscape looms in the background.
Also celebrating its DC premiere is Sharkwater Extinction, a thrilling, inspiring and harrowing journey that follows late filmmaker Rob Stewart as he exposes the illegal shark fin industry and the political corruption behind it. Anthropocene: The Human Epoch uses high-end production and state-of-the-art camera techniques to capture the evidence of human planetary domination while, When Lambs Become Lions takes a visually arresting look at the motives of the people at the epicenter of the conservation divide. The festival will also screen the film, Free Solo, which just won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Many filmmakers will be on-hand throughout the festival including Ben Masters (The River and the Wall), Alex Jablonski (Wildland), Andrew Nisker (Ground War) and Jilann Spitzmiller (Meow Wolf: Origin Story).
Several special guests will also be present, including the family and friends of the late Rob Stewart, who passed away in a diving accident while filming Sharkwater Extinction. That film was completed by Stewart’s parents, Brian and Sandy Stewart, and close friend Brock Cahill, using Stewart’s footage and notes. All three will be in attendance.
The festival, which won the 2017 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Creative Industries, will feature several blocks of films at various locations around DC. In addition to National Geographic, major locations include, E Street Cinema, AFI Silver, the National Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Institution for Science, American University, Eaton DC and multiple embassies around the city. Tickets and more information can be found at: https://dceff.org
What Environmental Film Festival In The Nation’s Capital – 100+ Environmentally focused films screened at over 25 venues around Washington, DC. A full list of films is listed online at: https://dceff.org/festival/
Where Film Screenings:
- National Geographic Museum: 1145 17th Street, NW
- Landmark E Street Cinema: 555 11th Street, NW
- AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center: 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring
- Eaton DC: 1201 K Street, NW
- Smithsonian Museum of Natural History: 10th St. & Constitution Ave, NW
- Carnegie Institution for Science: 1530 P Street, NW
- Various embassies and libraries across DC
When March 14-24 – Website (https://dceff.org/)
Social Twitter: https://twitter.com/dceff_org #DCEFF
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dceff.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dceff_org/
Phone#: 202-342-2564
Information A full schedule can be found at: https://dceff.org/festival/
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The Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF) is the world’s premier showcase of environmentally themed films. Since 1993, our mission has been to celebrate Earth and inspire understanding and stewardship of the environment through the power of film. Each March in Washington, D.C., we host the largest environmental film festival in the world, presenting 100+ films to audiences of more than 20,000 and collaborating with over 110 partners, including museums, embassies, universities, and theaters. The festival is one of the leading annual cultural events in Washington, D.C., winning the 2017 DC Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Creative Industries.
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