5 indie film festivals for environmental filmmakers
Festivals built specifically to amplify stories about the planet, human rights, conservation, and social justice.
Lookout Wild Film Festival
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Lookout Wild is a four-day festival held each January, welcoming over 4,000 to the event across seven sessions, screening 100 adventure, environmental and conservation films from around the world. Regarded as one of the most respected outdoor film festivals in North America, the festival operates as a PBS partnership with selected films screening as part of special presentations. You can submit your environmental-focused work on The Circuit now through September 30th.
Green Film Festival of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Originally founded in 2011 as the SF Green Film Festival, this event was an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme and the official film presenting partner of the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit. Needless to say, this festival means impact. It’s a seven-day festival held each October that screens approximately 50 independent features and shorts annually surrounding documentary, narrative, animation, and adventure films with environmental themes. You can submit to this festival now through The Circuit.
Mountainfilm
Telluride, Colorado
Mountainfilm is North America’s longest continuously running documentary film festival, now in its 48th year. Held every May across eight venues, the festival screens over 100 films covering environmental conservation, social justice, adventure, climbing, and cultural diversity. This festival is Oscar-qualifying for the Documentary Short Film category, and its touring branch brings festival films to 150+ shows annually, reaching over 50,000 people globally.
Environmental Film Festival at the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF)
Washington, D.C.
DCEFF is currently in its 34th year and is the world’s largest and longest-running environmental film festival. Held each March across museums, embassies, universities, and theaters across the nation’s capital, this festival draws over 30,000 attendees. The festival accepts all genres with environmental themes and fee waivers are available for student filmmakers, local metro-area filmmakers, and films about DC-related issues. Past programming has included Oscar-nominee All That Breathes and Wild Life from Free Solo filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi.
Awareness Film Festival
Los Angeles, California
Organized by Heal One World, the Awareness Film Festival is held every October in Santa Monica. The festival screens over 150 films in-person and virtually, and programming spans documentary and narrative features, shorts, music videos, and PSAs covering ecological, political, health and well-being, animal welfare, social justice, human rights, mental health, and LBGTQ+ topics. Fun fact, every dollar of net profit generated from this festival goes directly to charity.
Environmental and social impact films have found a growing audience on the festival circuit, including The Circuit, which is built to help filmmakers find the festivals that match their film’s themes and goals. Rather than spending days on end researching which festivals make the most sense, The Circuit cuts all that work so you can focus on what matters. Getting your film out there.
