Environmental films didn’t really exist until about the 1970’s. For the most part there were few film-makers seriously looking at the earth and our place in it until the late 1960’s.
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) became the first commercially successful and most impactful environmental book in history. After that, books, then films, began to both celebrate the earth and lament its potential demise. Since that time, there have been hundreds of thousands of films and documentaries created that are designed to educate and warn. Some simply look at life on earth, particularly non-human life. Many are studies of the impacts that humans have had on the planet so far.
Former Vice-President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth (directed by Davis Guggenheim) is the highest grossing documentary film in history. It was designed to be an accessible look global climate change and the impacts that it is having.
Each year, thousands of environmental films are released and there are many film festivals that celebrate these films, usually in the hopes of shedding light on what we can all do to help save the planet from the negative aspects of supporting 7 billion humans.
Here is an international list of film festivals that specialize in environmental films:
- American Conservation Film Festival
- Artivist Film Festival
- Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
- Black Maria Film and Video Festival
http://www.blackmariafilmfestival.org
- Cinemambiente Environmental Film Festival
- ecofilms – Rodos International Film + Visual Arts Festival
- ECOMOVE International
- Environmental Film Festival at Yale
http://environment.yale.edu/film
- Environmental Film Festival (Washington, DC)
http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org
- FICMA – Festival Internacional de Cinema del Medi Ambient
- Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
- Global Visions Film Festival
http://www.globalvisionsfestival.com
- Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival
- International Environmental Film Festival
http://www.ficma.com/index.php?l=en
- Imagine Science Film Festival
http://www.imaginesciencefilms.com
- International Wildlife Media Center & Film Festival
- Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
- Media That Matters Film Festival
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/issue/environment/
- Native Spirit Film Festival
http://www.nativespiritfoundation.org/
- North Sea Film Festival
http://www.northseafilmfestival.com/home/
- Planet In Focus: Toronto International Environmental Film & Video Festival
- Princeton Environmental Film Festival
http://www.princetonlibrary.org/peff
- San Francisco Green Film Festival
- Santa Cruz Film Festival
http://santacruzfilmfestival.org/
- Tales from Planet Earth Film Festival
http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/tales
- Undercurrents: BEyONdTV
http://www.undercurrents.org/beyondtv
- United Nations Association Film Festival
- Vermont International Film Festival
- Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival
http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org
- Wild Talk Africa – Wildlife Film Festival & Conference
https://www.wildtalkafrica.com
- Wildscreen Festival
- World Community Film Festival
http://worldcommunity.ca/film-festival/
- Yosemite Film Festival
http://www.yosemitefilmfestival.com
If you know of other film festivals that feature environmental films, please let us know. We would love to keep this list up to date.
Article written by Bob Peryea for The Monthly Film Festival
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Johnny M.
This is a really useful list! I just submitted to three festivals from here.