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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

http://conservationfilm.org

• Artivist Film Festival

http://www.artivists.org

• Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org

• Black Maria Film and Video Festival

http://www.blackmariafilmfestival.org

• Cinemambiente Environmental Film Festival

• ecofilms – Rodos International Film + Visual Arts Festival

http://www.ecofilms.gr

• ECOMOVE International

http://www.ecomove.de

• 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

http://www.ficma.com

• Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival

http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff

• Global Visions Film Festival

http://www.globalvisionsfestival.com

• Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival

http://www.hazelfilm.org

• 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

http://www.wildlifefilms.org

• Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

http://www.jhfestival.org

• 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

http://www.planetinfocus.org

• Princeton Environmental Film Festival

http://www.princetonlibrary.org/peff

• San Francisco Green Film Festival

http://sfgreenfilmfest.org

• 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

http://www.unaff.org

• Vermont International Film Festival

http://www.vtiff.org

• Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival

http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org

• Wild Talk Africa – Wildlife Film Festival & Conference

https://www.wildtalkafrica.com

• Wildscreen Festival

http://www.wildscreen.org

• 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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