The 17th Annual Environmental Film Festival
The Environmental Film Festival Sets New Attendance Record in its 16th Year!
The 2008 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital presented more than 120 documentary, animated, feature, experimental, archival and children’s films
from March 11 to 22 throughout Washington, D.C. The 16th annual
Festival provided diverse perspectives on global environments to a
record audience; more than 24,000 people attended 88 events featuring a wide variety of cinematic work by filmmakers from 30 countries, including 56 Washington, D.C., United States and World premieres.
The twelve-day Festival featured films unavailable in commercial
theaters, including winning selections from international festivals
such as The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Havana Film Festival,
CineEco in Portugal, Venice Film Festival, and the 2007 FICA in Brazil.
Our commitment to the work of international filmmakers brought films
from around the world to Washington audiences. Slovenia, Cuba, India,
Kenya, and the Czech Republic are just five of more than forty
countries featured in EFF’s 2008 film selections.
For the
third year in a row EFF organized a special program designed for middle
and high school students. Due to the popularity of these programs over
the past two years, in 2008 we scheduled both morning and afternoon
screenings on March 3rd at the historic Warner Theatre. More than 2,200 Washington, D.C. public and charter school students
attended the Academy Award nominated documentary, “War Dance.” The
morning screening was followed by a lively question and answer session
with Josie Swantek, one of the producers present during the filming in
Uganda. The response from students, parents, and teachers was powerful.
A special focus of the 2008 Festival was water. March 22, the
final day of the Festival, coincided with United Nations’ World Water
Day. We held a special day-long tribute which included films from
around the world, a panel discussion with water experts, and the
brand-new documentary, “Flow: For Love of Water.” Other highlights of
the Festival included the world premiere of “Scarred Lands and Wounded
Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War,” the Washington premiere of
the IMAX film “Grand Canyon Adventure: River At Risk,” Academy Award
winning short films by Robin Lehman, and discussion with distinguished
biologist and Pulitzer Prize winner Dr. E.O. Wilson at the Washington,
D.C. premiere of “Darwin’s Natural Heir,” a portrait film about his
life.
A total of 141 special guests, including 35 filmmakers,
addressed the 2008 EFF audiences. Acclaimed independent filmmaker Les
Blank, National Geographic Explorer-In-Residence Wade Davis, film
critic Mike Canning, writer and mountaineer John Harlin III, Animal
Planet ocean correspondent Philippe Cousteau, celebrated Native
American filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, actress Kaiulani Lee, and maverick
director Godfrey Reggio, joined noted scientists and experts to discuss
the broad range of topics presented at the 2008 Festival.
Presented in collaboration with 82 unique organizations,
EFF is recognized as a major collaborative cultural event in the
nation’s capital, and the largest environmental festival of its kind in
the world. In 2008, films were screened at 48 venues in
all four quadrants of the city. Museums, embassies, universities,
libraries, theatres, and schools participated in the Festival. The
majority of films were introduced and/or included discussions with
filmmakers or environmental experts. Most of the events were free and
all were open to the public. The Festival’s newly redesigned Web site
serves as a resource to interested parties around the world throughout
the year, with a detailed listing of the films, distributors and
contact information as well as film clips, filmmaker bios, and other
features that effectively extend the reach of the Festival.
