The D.C. Environmental Film Festival comes back to in-person screenings this year, after being online since 2019, with more than 100 films shown at venues all across the District.
It kicked off Thursday at the Naval Heritage Center with a sold-out 7 p.m. showing of “Deep Rising,” a documentary about destructive extraction in the ocean depths narrated by actor Jason Momoa.
Over the course of the 10-day festival, more than 20,000 people are expected to view the collection of short films and documentaries about nature, environmental justice and activists working to preserve our planet. The last day of the conference features another big name: Angela Bassett, who narrates “Good Night Oppy,” a film about a Mars rover robot that lasted 15 years longer than NASA expected. It is showing at the Naval Heritage Center at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 26.
Well-known political leaders such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) (who features in “The Smell of Money” to talk about the harms of factory farming) also make appearances in many of the films.
The festival’s schedule includes a number of Black stories about justice, including “Freedom Hill,” a short film about environmental racism in Princeville, North Carolina, and “After Sherman,” a documentary about African American history and connection to the land in the Black Belt. Another film focused on justice and equity, Lawrence Green’s “Trashman,” stands out as a D.C. story. The short examines the trash pollution problem in Ward 8 and what community activists are doing about it.
Interested viewers can buy tickets to individual films, most of which are just under $12 each, at dceff.org.