Awards
Eric Moe Award
For Best Short on Sustainability2022 Winner Breaking Trail
Emily Ford sets out with Diggins, a borrowed Alaskan Husky sled dog, to become the first woman and person of color to thru-hike the 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail in winter. As the 69-day journey through subzero temperatures tests her physical and mental endurance, Emily and her canine protector develop an unbreakable bond as they embrace the unexpected kindness of strangers and discover they’ve become figureheads in the movement to make the outdoors more accessible for everyone. What begins as an extraordinary physical and mental challenge also becomes a spiritual adventure.
Shared Earth Foundation Award
For Advocacy2022 Winner Tigre Gente
A Bolivian park ranger and a young Hong Kongese journalist risk their lives to investigate a new, deadly jaguar trade that’s sweeping South America. Along the way, they grapple with questions of empathy, responsibility, and bridging a cultural gap to prevent the jaguar trade from spiraling out of control.
William W. Warner Beautiful Swimmers Award
For Reflecting a Spirit of Reverence for the Natural World2022 Winner Beans
Twelve-year-old Beans is on the edge: torn between innocent childhood and delinquent adolescence; forced to grow up fast to become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Indigenous uprising known as The Oka Crisis, which tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990.
DCEFF Audience Award
for Best Feature Film2022 Winner Devil Put the Coal in the Ground
Uniquely structured upon the personal storytelling of native West Virginians, Devil Put The Coal In The Ground is a meditation on the suffering and devastation brought on by the coal industry and its decline. From the realities of a crumbling economy, to the ravages of the opioid epidemic, to the irreparable environmental damage and its tragic impact on human health – the film is a cautionary tale of unfettered corporate power, and an elegy to a vanishing Appalachia.
DCEFF Audience Award
for Best Short Film2022 Winner Camp Yoshi
After moving to Oregon and falling in love with the ability to explore the outdoors with ease with his wife and two kids, Rashad Frazier knew he had to extend the invitation to others. Driven by the magic of his experiences, his background as a chef, and his love of good food and connecting people to incredible places that open up to conversation, he created Camp Yoshi, which curates custom outdoor adventures centered around shared meals and shared experience with the goal of creating a space for Black people and allies to unplug and in turn reconnect with the wilderness. By virtue of being in these places, Camp Yoshi's trips transform historically segregated spaces into safe havens for community, conversation and nourishment.
The Flo Stone & Roger D. Stone Award
For Outstanding Artistry in Filmmaking2022 Winner Fire of Love
Katia and Maurice Krafft loved two things — each other and volcanoes. For two decades, the daring French volcanologist couple roamed the planet, chasing eruptions, documenting their discoveries.
The DCEFF Environmental Champion Award
2022 Winner Dr. Jane Goodall
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and UN Messenger of Peace, is a world-renowned ethologist and activist inspiring greater understanding and action on behalf of the natural world. Dr. Goodall is known for groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, which forever changed our understanding of our relationship to the animal kingdom – helping to open the door to a more empathetic balance between our shared needs. Today, Jane continues to connect with worldwide audiences, despite the challenges of the pandemic, through ‘Virtual Jane’ including remote lectures, recordings, and her podcast, the “Jane Goodall Hopecast”.
Polly Krakora Award
For Artistry in Film2019 Winner Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
High-end production values and state-of-the-art camera techniques capture evidence of human planetary domination. At the intersection of art and science, this film bears witness to a critical moment in geological history.
Hausman Foundation for the Environment Award
for Best International Film2020 Winner Sea of Shadows
Follows a team of dedicated scientists, high-tech conservationists, investigative journalists, and courageous undercover agents as well as the Mexican navy as they put their lives on the line to save the last remaining vaquitas.