DCEFF

DCEFF at AFI: Architecton
2024-12-08 16:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Co-presented with the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center as part of their European Union Film Showcase
The latest documentary from Victor Kossavosky (GUNDA) is a meditative exploration of humanity’s destructive shaping of the natural world told through visually mesmerizing footage of concrete in its many forms. Ukrainian apartments torn asunder amidst war, Turkish buildings leveled by an earthquake, colossal ancient ruins in Baalbek: these are a few of the imposing images Kossavosky and cinematographer Ben Bernhard capture and present, bolstered by Evgueni Galperine’s captivating score. The destruction and devastation are counterbalanced with remarkable appreciation for the beauty of the earth; indeed, the hypnotizing slow-motion footage of flowing stones and craggy rocks is a sight to behold.

Hollywood Climate Summit
2025-06-02 - 2025-06-04 | DC
DCEFF is excited to be a community partner for the 2025 Hollywood Climate Summit!
HCS isn’t just another climate conference — it’s an entertainment forward networking and learning experience with special focuses on storytelling and strategy across sectors like film, TV, gaming, marketing, music, and journalism.
Because DCEFF is a partner of the Summit, our community gets a special 50% discount on tickets and passes with the code PARTNERHCS25. Don’t miss this experience, June 2-4 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles and online.

World Environment Day: Stream New Watch Now Additions!
2025-06-05 | DC
Join DCEFF on World Environment Day when we release dozens of new titles on our Watch Now page.

DCEFF at Caribbean FilmFest: Exploiting Eden, Île-à-Vache
2025-06-08 18:30 - 20:30, 2025-06-09 16:30 - 18:30 | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Co-presentation of DCEFF and the DC Caribbean FilmFest at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center!
Exploiting Eden, Île-à-Vache is a David and Goliath story about the inhabitants of Île-à-Vache, a small island in the south of Haiti, and an impending tourist development project.
Considered by many as one of the last virgin beaches in the Caribbean, Île-à-Vache is an unexploited paradise, but that has come under threat. Seeing themselves as separated from decision-making around its future, the island’s people must unite to take destiny into their own hands.

DCEFF at Caribbean FilmFest: Monikondee
2025-06-08 20:30 - 22:30, 2025-06-09 20:45 - 22:45 | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Co-presentation of DCEFF and the DC Caribbean FilmFest at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center!
For centuries, the Maroons in Suriname’s rainforest have kept capitalist society at bay. Descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped Dutch plantations, they have thrived by preserving their ancestral traditions. In recent years, however, economic interests have encroached upon their land.
Monikondee follows Boogie, a boatman who delivers essential cargo to remote Maroon and Indigenous communities. While these communities continue to grow their own food, they are becoming increasingly dependent on boatmen like Boogie to bring in vital supplies as floods and droughts destroy their crops and gold mining poisons their water.

Eric Moe Award Shorts: Keeper + Finalists (Virtual)
2025-06-19 11:00 - 2025-06-22 23:30 | DC
Join us for a special virtual encore showcase of our 2025 Eric Moe Award winner and two additional finalists!
Keeper, the Student Academy Award winner and Oscar-shortlisted film, follows Flynn, a single father and empty nester in the Bronx, as he cares for hives across the city — including several inside his daughter Alaura’s childhood bedroom. When Flynn receives a life-threatening diagnosis, he reluctantly steps away from the bees under Alaura’s care. Battling cancer while fretting about his hives’ survival, Flynn prepares his daughter to continue living powerfully — with or without him.

Ocean with David Attenborough
2025-06-20 11:30 - 2025-07-03 12:00 | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
A co-presentation of DCEFF and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. This theatrical cut includes 12 minutes of exclusive additional footage only available in theaters! Multiple screenings, daily June 20 through July 3.
Sir David Attenborough explores the planet’s undersea habitats, revealing the greatest age of ocean discovery and emphasizing the ocean’s vital importance while exposing its problems and highlighting opportunities for marine life recovery. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing.

We Are Guardians
2025-06-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Miracle Theatre, 535 8th Street, SE, Washington, DC, 20003, United States
Our 2024 Shared Earth Foundation Award for Advocacy winner is currently screening in theatres across the United States. This includes a stop at DC’s Miracle Theatre later this month for a special program featuring the filmmakers.
We Are Guardians follows Indigenous forest guardians in their fight to protect the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil from destruction. Directed by Edivan Guajajara, Chelsea Greene, and Rob Grobman—and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio—the film uses powerful character-driven storytelling to shine a light on one of the most critical ecological and human rights crises of our time.

Nocturnes (w/Friends of Patuxent)
2025-07-17 17:00 - 19:00 | Patuxent Research Refuge, 10901 Scarlet Tanager Loop, Laurel, MD, United States
Join us at Patuxent Research Refuge on Thursday, July 17th for a “moth-nificent” night out with a screening of the internationally acclaimed film, Nocturnes. Spread your wings into the world of moths, an often-underrated night-time pollinator.
After the film please take home some free native plants and/or seeds, as coordinated by Friends of Patuxent. Friends of Patuxent will also provide light refreshments. Create some pollinator habitat of your own — you can help these wonderful creatures even if you only have a window ledge or a spot on a stoop to put out a plant!

Shorts: Wild Lives (Virtual)
2025-07-24 11:00 - 2025-07-27 23:30 | DC
A DCEFF 2025 Virtual Encore Presentation. Watch a collection of shorts featuring wildlife, wild places, and the people living wild lives alongside them.
Includes:

The Bird Rescue Center
Aldo’s Bug Extravaganza
About Damn Time
To Know a Place
Reindalen

DCEFF at LAFF: Flamingos
2025-09-23 16:50 - 18:30, 2025-09-28 12:50 - 14:30 | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Co-presented by DCEFF and the AFI Silver as part of their Latin American Film Festival
This is a story about life — stubborn, fragile and fleeting — that began 66 million years ago, when a giant meteorite crashed in what is now the Yucatán Peninsula, wiping out the dinosaurs from existence. Millennia later, tens of thousands of Caribbean flamingos flock to the region for a grand display of courtship, turning the muddy banks into a vast maternity ward for the next generation. This incredible undertaking by phoenicopterus ruber to breed — building mud nests in a prominent flood zone, finding a mate among a horde of competitors, evading scores of hungry predators — was captured over a two-year period in partnership with the esteemed Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Humorous, offbeat narration by Mexican singer Julieta Venegas, an engrossing score by Bryce Dessner and breathtaking natural photography combine to create a singular wildlife documentary that will make you appreciate the hardy flamingo and the preciousness of life itself.

Climate Week: Chasing Time (Virtual)
2025-09-25 11:00 - 2025-09-28 23:30 | DC
Stream this free virtual screening September 28-28 as part of Climate Week NYC
If a single photo can inspire change, how influential are a million images?
Over the course of the 15-year Extreme Ice Survey project, photographer James Balog and his team brought some of the world’s first and most compelling visual evidence of climate change to the global stage as he depicted the rapid melting of glaciers around the world. Thoughtfully helmed by acclaimed director Jeff Orlowski-Yang (Chasing Ice, Chasing Coral, The Social Dilemma) and emerging filmmaker Sarah Keo, Chasing Time is a meditative exploration of time and mortality, following James and his crew as they bring the decades-long project to a close, cataloging more than one million images in the process.

Climate Week: Pulitzer Shorts (Virtual)
2025-09-25 11:00 - 2025-09-28 23:30 | DC
Co-presented with the Pulitzer Center. Stream this free virtual screening September 28-28 as part of Climate Week NYC!
This collection of films, created by emerging journalists in the Pulitzer Center’s 2024 Reporting Fellowship program, captures how climate change is reshaping landscapes, livelihoods, and cultural traditions around the world. Together, they reveal what is at stake and the vision of a new generation responding to a changing planet.

DCEFF at LAFF: Yanuni
2025-09-25 18:30 - 20:30 | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Co-presented by DCEFF and the AFI Silver as part of their Latin American Film Festival
The first female elected chief of her people in the Amazon’s Middle Xingu region, Indigenous activist Juma Xipaia is the brilliant subject of Richard Ladkani’s urgent documentary. An outspoken advocate, Juma has survived six assassination attempts as she dares to face the ruthless mining companies whose every action threatens to destroy her community. Steadfastly by her side is her husband, Hugo, a former Special Forces ranger and helicopter pilot who is now tasked with leading dangerous missions for Brazil’s environmental protection agency. As their family and responsibilities begin to grow, Juma and Hugo must protect both their future and the future of the Amazon. Produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, Ladkani’s mesmerizing eco-thriller juxtaposes awe-inspiring nature photography with heartless violence in a fight for environmental justice that never ends.

Pulitzer Shorts: On the Frontlines (Virtual Encore)
2025-10-16 11:00 - 2025-10-26 23:30 | DC
Co-presented with the Pulitzer Center. Stream this free virtual screening October 16-26.
This collection of films, created by emerging journalists in the Pulitzer Center’s 2024 Reporting Fellowship program, captures how climate change is reshaping landscapes, livelihoods, and cultural traditions around the world. Together, they reveal what is at stake and the vision of a new generation responding to a changing planet.

Journey of a Story: The White House Effect
2025-10-20 18:00 - 21:00 | NYU DC, 1307 L Street Northwest, Washington, DC, 20005, United States
The Uproot Project, in partnership with DCEFF, presents an engaging evening exploring climate politics and trust in the media
The event will begin with a screening of 2025 DCEFF Opening Night Select The White House Effect. The film will be followed by a conversation with journalists Justin Worland from Time and Jenny Hijazi from Bloomberg, moderated by Chelsea Henderson, author of Glacial: The Inside Story of Climate Politics.

DCEFF at AFI's EU Showcase: The Love That Remains
2025-12-04 21:10 - 23:00, 2025-12-05 19:10 - 21:00, 2025-12-10 13:00 - 14:50 | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Co-presented by DCEFF and AFI Silver as part of their European Union Film Showcase
Against the backdrop of Iceland’s magnificent landscape — a rugged island filled with winding roads amidst a majestic tundra — a marriage falls apart, threatening to fracture a loving family. Fisherman Magnús (Sverrir Guðnason) has just moved out of the house he shares with his visual artist wife, Anna (Saga Garðarsdóttir), and their three children, Ída and twins Þorgils and Grímur (all three played by the real children of filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason, GODLAND). The high school sweethearts have drifted apart as of late, despite Magnús’ hope for reconciliation, though they still spend time together for the sake of the kids. Working with a set-up that could easily veer toward melodrama, Pálmason pens a surprisingly sensitive and poignant treatise on the ties that bind, imbuing the scenario with a warm sense of humor and a charming thread of magical realism that combine into a powerful climax.
The gorgeous cinematography, lensed in 35mm by Pálmason himself, deftly renders the grandeur of the Icelandic setting. All of this is anchored by the compelling, sly performances from all five principal players, though special mention goes to the various critters that live with the family — chickens, cows, horses and one exceptional sheepdog named Panda, who won the coveted Palm Dog award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Out of Plain Sight at NAS
2025-12-11 18:30 - 21:00 | National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20002, United States
We are thrilled to be teaming up with the National Academy of Sciences to offer a free screening of our 2025 Shared Earth Foundation Award winner Out of Plain Sight.
This screening will be followed by a conversation with co-director Rosanna Xia and several scientists featured in the film: Dr. David Valentine (UC Santa Barbara), Dr. Alissa Deming (Pacific Marine Mammal Center), Dr. Eunha Hoh (San Diego State University), and Dr. Lihini Aluwihare (Scripps Institution of Oceanography).

DCEFF at AFI's EU Showcase: Silent Friend
2025-12-14 13:15 - 15:45, 2025-12-17 16:15 - 18:45 | AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, MD 20910, Silver Spring, MD, United States
A Co-presentation between DCEFF and the AFI Silver as part of their European Union Film Showcase
For over a century, a ginkgo tree, standing sentinel in the garden of Philipps University of Marburg in Germany, experiences its surroundings — but how and what it experiences is a mystery. Every day, students, professors and staff pass by the tree, graze its bark, recline beneath its shade. Ildikó Enyedi’s profound scientific epic locates three such passersby, separated by generations. In 2020, a professor of neuroscience, stranded and isolated on the COVID-abandoned campus, begins to conduct experiments on the tree’s sensorial faculties. In 1972, a first-year student, inspired by a romantic dalliance, cares for a sensitive geranium; and, in 1908, the university’s first female student discovers a new way of seeing plants through photography. Enyedi excavates these stories from the ginkgo tree’s roots, like living fossils that have implanted themselves into its being.
The cast is led by Tony Leung Chiu-wai (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, CHUNGKING EXPRESS) and Léa Seydoux (THE BEAST, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR), as two preternaturally sensitive and curious modern researchers who wish to understand the mind of plants. Their inquiries open a portal into an expanded sense of time and connection, uniting their story with those who came before them and with the plants who have borne witness all the while.

JxJ & DCEFF: Hollow Tree
2026-01-31 19:00 - 21:00 | Cafritz Hall, 1529 16th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20036, United States
Past DCEFF Selection Hollow Tree is returning to DC for a special screening co-presented by JxJ and DCEFF.
Hollow Tree follows three teenagers coming of age in their sinking homeland of Louisiana. For the first time, they notice the Mississippi River’s engineering, stumps of cypress trees, and billowing smokestacks. Their different perspectives — as Indigenous, white, and Angolan young women — shape their story of the climate crisis.
Screening will be followed by a conversation with filmmaker Kira Akerman moderated by environmentalist Susan Crawford.

2026 Festival Preview Event
2026-02-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Georgetown University Capitol Campus, 111 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
Join DCEFF organizers, filmmakers, and partners at Georgetown University’s Capitol Campus for an exclusive first look at some of the award winners and highlights from our 2026 lineup.
You’ll see clips, hear exciting announcements about what to expect this March, and have a chance to connect with an amazing community of environmentalists and film enthusiasts.

34th Annual Environmental Film Festival
2026-03-19 19:00 - 2026-03-27 22:00 | DC
March 19-28, 2026, 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 2026.
