From the tale of the first all-Black expedition to scale North America’s highest peak to the fight to save a Norfolk, Virginia public housing project from sinking into the ocean, the D.C. Environmental Film Festival’s (DCEFF) 2024 lineup captures the highest highs and lowest lows in environmental justice stories.
This year, DCEFF will host more than 40 screenings at almost two dozen locations around the District between March 21 and March 30. Even better: tickets for almost half the showings are either free or pay-what-you-can.
Offerings run the gamut from family-friendly films to deep-dive investigations. For example: one documentary tells the love story of two otters. Another follows the cancerous aftermath of nuclear testing in New Mexico.
As of March 18, a number of the festival’s events have already sold out. For anyone not sure where to start, here are five screenings that stood out to the Informer team:
- “SHORTS: Changemakers”
- When: Saturday, March 23 at 1 p.m.
- Where: Naval Heritage Center (701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW)
- What: A program of seven shorts (between six and 20 minutes each) showcasing individuals’ and communities’ “leadership, creative responses, and vocal advocacy for nature and people” around the globe.
- How much: Pay what you can
- “One With the Whale”
- When: Sunday, March 24 at 1 p.m.
- Where: National Museum of the American Indian (4th Street SW)
- What: In “One With the Whale,” Chris Agra Apassingok makes history as the youngest to harpoon a whale for his Indigenous Alaskan village, where whale hunting is a matter of life and death. When his achievement faces online backlash, his family fights to reclaim their identity in a changing world.
- How much: Free
- “Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story”
- When: Sunday, March 24 at 4 p.m.
- Where: Naval Heritage Center (701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW)
- What: The story of an unlikely friendship formed when a wild otter in desperate need of help washes up on a jetty in the remote Scottish Islands of Shetland.
- How much: Tickets are $11.53
- Environmental Champion Award: Rev Yearwood + “Underwater Projects” Screening
- When: Sunday, March 24 at 6 p.m.
- Where: Naval Heritage Center (701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW)
- What: This short film unpacks a “redevelopment plan” that would tear down public housing and redevelop what is a historic Black community in Norfolk, Virginia. The city is sinking, and its insufficient floodwalls end right where a public housing project begins. Before the film, the program includes an hourlong reception followed by the presentation of the Environmental Champion Award to Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus.
- How much: $16.79
- “Farming While Black”
- When: Friday, March 29 at 7 p.m.
- Where: National Museum of Natural History (10th Street & Constitution Avenue NW)
- What: A film that examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and the rising generation reclaiming their rightful ownership to land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots. Afterward, there will be a live conversation with the filmmakers and two of the Black farmers featured in the documentary.
- How much: Free