• By Mabel Pais

The DC (District of Columbia) Environmental Film Festival returns to theaters in a crucial year.

With a high-stakes election coming up this November, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF) is offering opportunities for audiences to come out and engage with filmmakers, organizers, and experts on issues like climate change, environmental justice, and conservation efforts.

The Festival, March 21-30, which celebrates its 32nd year, hosts screenings of over 60 eye-catching and exciting new films at venues across the D.C. Metropolitan Area, including Smithsonians, foreign embassies, and universities, as well as the National Academy of Sciences and National Museum of Women in the Arts.

On Thursday March 21, the Festival will open at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History with the U.S. Premiere of Academy Award-winner Luc Jacquet’s new film ‘Antarctica Calling.’ ‘The March of the Penguins’ director will also be on hand for a post-screening conversation about his career and what drew him back to the vanishing continent.

On Sunday, March 24, DCEFF will honor Hip Hop Caucus President & CEO Rev. Lennox Yearwood with its Environmental Champion Award in a special event followed by a screening of Underwater Projects, which highlights climate injustice in sinking Norfolk, Virginia. Additional guest highlights include: Famed oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle in conversation at the National Portrait Gallery; Merlin Sheldrake, author of New York Times Bestseller ‘Entangled Life’ will be on hand for a double-feature of new films exploring the world of fungi, including one narrated by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk; and Soul Fire Farm co-founder and author Leah Penniman will participate in a screening and conversation of ‘Farming While Black,’ which chronicles the efforts of Penniman and other Black farmers to reclaim their agricultural heritage.

In terms of this year’s film lineup, the Festival offers something for everyone. Highlights include: ‘First We Bombed New Mexico,’ a film that aims to tell “the story that [Oscar-frontrunner] Oppenheimer doesn’t” about the forgotten communities still facing negative effects from the Trinity nuclear tests; the regional premiere of National Geographic’s family-friendly Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story; and additional titles exploring human connections to wildlife like ‘Mongolia, Valley of the Bears’ and semi-experimental moth film ‘The Night Visitors’ (both of which are taking home Festival awards, which totaled $45,000 in filmmaker support this year).

TICKETS & SCHEDULE

For Tickets and the full schedule for the Environmental Film Festival, visit dceff.org.

(Mabel Pais writes on Social Issues, The Arts and Entertainment, Spirituality, Education, Cuisine, Health & Wellness, and Business)