2024 Festival Highlights

Our 2024 Festival was an incredible experience.

From Thursday, March 21, through Saturday, March 30, we presented over 40 programs at venues across the DC Metro Area, including Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Women in the Arts, the National Portrait Gallery, the MLK Memorial Library, the Washington Post, and other cultural institutions, embassies, and universities.

The programs featured screenings and conversations about important issues facing our planet and the amazing work being done by the people working for a better tomorrow. For these, we were joined by dozens of filmmakers, experts, journalists, and changemakers like Rep. Adam Schiff, Luc Jacquet, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Leah Penniman, Karen Washington, Juliet Eilperin, Alex Honnold, Dr. Heidi Sevestre, Tyrhee Moore, Merlin Sheldrake, “The Planetwalker” John Francis, Charlie Hamilton James, Hamid Sardar, and Rev. Lennox Yearwood.

Thank you to our passionate audience for helping to create an atmosphere of excitement that resulted in more than 20 sold out screenings!

“This is a Festival that not only showcases the beauty and complexity of our planet, but also ignites the passion within us to protect it. Founded by Flo Stone in 1993, DCEFF has been a beacon for environmental storytelling, uplifting the voices of those fighting to preserve the natural world around us. And for over three decades, this Festival has been the premier showcase for environmentally-themed films.”

–US Senator Adam Schiff

More March 22 Highlights

• Patrol: we co-presented the investigative deforestation doc with Grist and the Washington Office on Latin America. The program featured a conversation with filmmakers Brad Allgood, Camilo de Castro, and Angie Gentile, moderated by WOLA President Carolina Jiménez Sandoval.

More March 23 Highlights

• Youth Screening: we brought Puffin Rock and the New Friends to families at the Anacostia and Woodridge community libraries.
• Annual International Showcase: this year’s program with the Trust for Mutual Understanding featured films curated by the Green Montenegro International Film Festival. GMIFF Art Director Slobodan Marunović, as well as filmmakers Blagota Marunović and Aleksandar Vujovic, joined us for a post-screening conversation.
• More: King Coal at the National Archives and Shorts: Changemakers

More March 24 Highlights

• One With the Whale: This co-presentation with Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian included a post-screening conversation with filmmaker Pete Chelkowski and film subject Takeva Appasingok.
• Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story: World-renowned wildlife photographer and filmmaker Charlie Hamilton James was on hand to introduce this heart-warming new film from National Geographic to a sold out audience. Charlie also participated in a post-screening conversation and Q&A moderated by Janet Han Vissering (SVP of Development and Production at Nat Geo Wild).
• More: Canary at the National Academy of Sciences and Shorts: Protectors.

More March 25 Highlights

• Impossible Town: This program with Georgetown University and Earth Commons highlighted a powerful story of environmental injustice in West Virginia. We were joined by filmmakers Meg Griffiths and Scott Faris, as well as film subject Dr. Ayne Amjad.
• HHMI Tangled Bank Studios Presents: HHMI brought their feature Wilding, a new episode of their popular Wild Hope series, and even some Wild Hope branded craft beer to a special screening and reception. The program included a conversation with Studio Head Jared Lipworth and Grist reporter Jessica Stahl.

More March 26 Highlights

• First We Bombed New Mexico: We continued our night of sold out programs at American University with a timely screening of this new film about the people fighting for justice for the downwinders, a New Mexico community still facing the effects of the first atomic bomb tests. Read the Washingtonian‘s article about the event and the people at the heart of this fight for environmental justice.
• Pulitzer Center Shorts: Our long-standing partner presented their hard-hitting environmental news coverage to a capacity audience at the MLK Memorial Library. The screening was followed by a conversation with the featured journalists, moderated by Pulitzer Center Senior Editor Steve Sapienza.
• An American Ascent 10th Anniversary: We partnered with Soul Trak Outdoors, Busboys & Poets – SE DC, and Friends of Anacostia Park, to celebrate the meaningful impact of An American Ascent, which documents the first African American expedition to tackle Denali, North America’s highest peak. We were joined for this special event by film subject, DCEFF Board Member, and Soul Trak Outdoors Founder Tyrhee Moore.
• More: Climate Films at the Embassy of the Czech Republic and Kings of the North at the Embassy of Canada.

More March 27 Highlights

• New African Film Festival Co-Presentations: We teamed with NAFF and AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center for screenings of Banel and Adama and Between the Rains.

More March 28 Highlights

• Queens at NMWA: We teamed with the National Museum of Women in the Arts for a special screening of an episode from the new National Geographic series Queens.
• More: Ocean Seen from the Heart at Embassy of France and Okiku and the World at the Japan Information and Culture Center.

More March 29 Highlights

• All Illusions Must Be Broken: We were joined by filmmakers Laura Dunna & Jef Sewell for the DC Premiere of their new documentary from executive producers Terrence Malick and Robert Redford.
• Giants Rising: The Department of the Interior Museum hosted this screening highlighting the legacy and importance of the coast redwoods. We were joined by the filmmaker Lisa Landers, redwood geneticist Zane Moore, Yurok Tribe representative Rosie Clayburn, and artist Sarah Bird.
• More: Across our three Friday screenings, we had over 1000 audience members watching environmental films at the same time!

More March 30 Highlights

• National Portrait Gallery Programs: The final day of the Festival featured two programs at the National Portrait Gallery in conjunction with their Forces of Nature exhibit. The first one put a spotlight on the amazing work of Dr. Tom Lovejoy and Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, with screenings of Back to Camp 41 and Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope. This screening also included a conversation with the filmmakers and Dr. Lovejoy’s colleagues. The second program focused on famed oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle with screenings of the new short Deep Trouble, as well as 2014’s Mission Blue. Her Deepness also joined us in person for a conversation with the filmmakers, moderated by Washington Post Climate Solutions Reporter Allyson Chiu.
• Take Flight Shorts: This lineup of films highlighted amazing stories about birds, bats, bees, and the people who love them. In addition to a wonderful filmmaker conversation, we were also joined by Chesapeake Coffee Roasters for tastings of certified bird-friendly coffee.
• Razing Liberty Square: We partnered with Grist and The Uproot Project to present this eye-opening climate justice film, as well as a conversation with film subject Samantha Quarterman and local organizers Sebrena Rhodes (Empower DC), and Oscar Villalobos (Green New Deal for DC), moderated by Bloomberg Senior Reporter Jennifer Hijazi.
• More: Here at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art and A Mirror of the Cosmos at the National Gallery of Art.