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Co-presented by AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

A ruminative road trip through the forests of the Chaco region in Paraguay, THE LAST sees director Sebastián Peña Escobar join his longtime friends Jota and Ulf, an ornithologist and entomologist, respectively, as they head toward one of the few remaining virgin forests spurred by rumors of its deforestation. While traversing barren landscapes, red and black with dust and ash where vibrant forests once stood, the trio’s conversations turn toward reflecting on the nature of mankind and whether the planet can be saved.

Co-presented by AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

A ruminative road trip through the forests of the Chaco region in Paraguay, THE LAST sees director Sebastián Peña Escobar join his longtime friends Jota and Ulf, an ornithologist and entomologist, respectively, as they head toward one of the few remaining virgin forests spurred by rumors of its deforestation. While traversing barren landscapes, red and black with dust and ash where vibrant forests once stood, the trio’s conversations turn toward reflecting on the nature of mankind and whether the planet can be saved.

A Co-presentation of AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

Nicaragua is one of the top five exporters of beef to the United States, whose profits in the industry have grown by over 400 percent in the last decade — but at great cost to the Rama Indigenous people and the Kriol Afro-descendent population, whose protected land in the rainforests is increasingly encroached upon and stolen by cattle ranchers seeking new land for their herds. An alliance between the two communities has led to the creation of Forest Ranger squads searching the area for signs of illegal encroachment. PATROL follows one of these squads as they patrol the region, aided by an American conservationist, encountering increasingly worrying levels of deforestation and signs that larger cattle-owning businesses are fast approaching.

A Co-presentation of AFI Silver’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

In this powerfully self-reflexive documentary, Swiss-Panamanian filmmaker Andrés Peyrot embeds himself alongside the Indigenous Kuna people in Panama’s Guna Yala islands to document their efforts to recover the lost film GOD IS A WOMAN. Made in 1975 while observing the Kuna’s matrilocal society by the acclaimed anthropologist Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau, the documentary, which Gaisseau promised to share with the community, was subsequently confiscated by its funders and never seen by the subjects. After elements are uncovered in Paris, Peyrot follows the endeavors of Kuna elders trying to track down the missing movie and those of the local intellectual Arysteides Turpana and a younger Kuna generation determined to tell their own stories.

A Co-presentation of AFI Silver’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

In this powerfully self-reflexive documentary, Swiss-Panamanian filmmaker Andrés Peyrot embeds himself alongside the Indigenous Kuna people in Panama’s Guna Yala islands to document their efforts to recover the lost film GOD IS A WOMAN. Made in 1975 while observing the Kuna’s matrilocal society by the acclaimed anthropologist Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau, the documentary, which Gaisseau promised to share with the community, was subsequently confiscated by its funders and never seen by the subjects. After elements are uncovered in Paris, Peyrot follows the endeavors of Kuna elders trying to track down the missing movie and those of the local intellectual Arysteides Turpana and a younger Kuna generation determined to tell their own stories.

Co-presented by AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

Deep within the Amazon, the Yanomami people are facing an existential threat. Since a highway tore through their territory in the early 1970s, miners have encroached on their land, bringing violence and disease. Filmmakers Eryk Rocha (CINEMA NOVO) and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha go beyond ethnography, allowing the Yanomami people to reach out and offer a blistering environmental warning: they are the first line of defense, but they alone cannot stop the sky from falling.

A Co-presentation of AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

Nicaragua is one of the top five exporters of beef to the United States, whose profits in the industry have grown by over 400 percent in the last decade — but at great cost to the Rama Indigenous people and the Kriol Afro-descendent population, whose protected land in the rainforests is increasingly encroached upon and stolen by cattle ranchers seeking new land for their herds. An alliance between the two communities has led to the creation of Forest Ranger squads searching the area for signs of illegal encroachment. PATROL follows one of these squads as they patrol the region, aided by an American conservationist, encountering increasingly worrying levels of deforestation and signs that larger cattle-owning businesses are fast approaching.

Co-presented by AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

In the heart of the Andean Altiplano, eight-year-old Feliciano tends to a herd of alpacas alongside his trusty dog Rambo and his favorite alpaca Ronaldo, named after the superstar soccer player. When not roaming the countryside, Feliciano stays glued to his radio, listening to Peru fight its way through the World Cup qualifiers. But his idyllic life is threatened by a mining company eyeing his family’s land. When Ronaldo goes missing, Feliciano springs into action to get his prized pet back, while the villagers will have to band together to save their sacred land.

Includes a post-screening reception sponsored by the Embassy of Peru

Co-presented by AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

In the heart of the Andean Altiplano, eight-year-old Feliciano tends to a herd of alpacas alongside his trusty dog Rambo and his favorite alpaca Ronaldo, named after the superstar soccer player. When not roaming the countryside, Feliciano stays glued to his radio, listening to Peru fight its way through the World Cup qualifiers. But his idyllic life is threatened by a mining company eyeing his family’s land. When Ronaldo goes missing, Feliciano springs into action to get his prized pet back, while the villagers will have to band together to save their sacred land.

Co-presented by AFI’s Latin American Film Festival and DCEFF

Deep within the Amazon, the Yanomami people are facing an existential threat. Since a highway tore through their territory in the early 1970s, miners have encroached on their land, bringing violence and disease. Filmmakers Eryk Rocha (CINEMA NOVO) and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha go beyond ethnography, allowing the Yanomami people to reach out and offer a blistering environmental warning: they are the first line of defense, but they alone cannot stop the sky from falling.

March 20-29, 2025, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF) returns to venues throughout the DC Metro Area. Stay tuned for exciting announcements early in 2025. Submissions are now open. Learn more via the Festival’s FilmFreeway page.