Colorado Environmental Film Festival

This month, there's a good excuse to travel to Golden... From February 23-25, Golden hosts the Colorado Environmental Film Festival at the spacious American Mountaineering Center. Every year, the festival welcomes filmmakers from all over Colorado and the globe to screen environmentally focused documentaries. Their goal? To entertain and inspire audiences into action that changes the world. Or at least their little corner of it. To that end, the festival raises awareness of environmental issues through film, and then provides resources for the audience to take immediate action.

"So often environmental film festivals have a reputation for screening doom and gloom," explains festival co-chair Danette Dacey Bohl. "The Colorado Environmental Film Festival is different in that we pair thought-provoking films with solution-based organizations. Once a film concludes and people are left asking "what can I do?", we greet them at our EcoExpo with organizations that provide answers,"

For example, after viewing What's ‘Organic' About Organic, a film that delves into what food labels really mean and what happens when a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming commercial market, audience members can walk into the EcoExpo and visit with Grant Family Farms, a certified organic CSA featured in the film.

"We aim to screen uplifting films," notes CEFF co-founder Shawna Crocker. "We assess them based on the quality of the message, the issue and the filmmaking as well the length. Every year, we're astounded at the issues environmental filmmakers uncover."

Sure, some films are disturbing, but that's the point. Without raising awareness, issues such as climate change (confronted with humor and science in Carbon Nation), alternative energies (covered in Switch), and epic population growth (presented in Mother: Caring for 7 Billion) might go unaddressed. But disturbing doesn't mean films have to be fear-based or guilt-inducing.

And therein lies another of the truths of the Colorado Film Festival: It strives to promote a positive outlook. And the experience is inexpensive. For $5, movie buffs can view a block of films, talk with filmmakers, learn how to make a difference and leave feeling light in their boots. A variety of price points and screening options means there's greater flexibility for the viewer-attendees don't need to sit through the more than 50 films to get their money's worth.

Synopses of each film are posted on CEFF's website, making it easy to decide what to see. Under the Program tab, brief descriptions detail the film's message. There's also screening information and a filter system that enables festival-goers to build itineraries that suit their schedules and interests-by day, by local filmmaker, by category. On the home page, weekly blogs cover topics such as how the film festival originated, which environmental issues inspire filmmakers, what's considered an environmental film and more. The landing page also shares recent festival news and events, including the film festival's trailer that includes footage and sound bytes from several of this year's films. A quick link at the bottom of every page connects to education and outreach programs, enabling viewers to take immediate action.

By expanding programming and arming audiences with solutions, the Colorado Environmental Film Festival is redefining the character of environmental film festivals. Although it lasts only 48 hours in a town known for a two-hour vacation, that's plenty of time to start changing the world.

For additional information, please contact:

Contact: Danette Dacey Bohl
Colorado Environmental Film Festival
Phone: 970-261-8402
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www.ceff.net