10 Social Impact Film Festivals
10 Social Impact Film Festivals
Plus a Webinar on Filmmaking for Change
As we all know, most movies playing in film festivals have some social relevance. Some messages may be hard to recognize. Could be a theme layered into a bloody thriller, or a scripted family drama. As audience members, we often just appreciate the cultural value of discovering a visionary filmmaker through a communal theatrical experience.
With so many social and environmental issues to address, it’s great to have such a broad range of filmmakers, companies, and organizations supporting social impact cinema, what I call Filmmaking for Change. And, yes, many festivals sprinkle in films with important themes and calls to action. Documentary festivals are chock-full of such projects (and I did a top Documentary festival piece), but there are some festivals specifically devoted to presenting social impact movies.
April is Earth Month (Earth Day is April 22nd) so it feels like the right time to present a list of 10 Festivals focused on these important subjects. And if you’re interested in learning more about the development, production, and activation of these projects, feel free to join us for our free webinar next week: April 10th at 11am pst.
The following US-based fests are listed in alphabetical order, with general info either from their website or film freeway page. All have links to visit their websites to learn more.
American Conservation Film Festival
ACFF considers submitted non-fiction and fiction films, provided the theme is driven by environmental or cultural conservation. Of special interest are the myriad ways humans interact with wildlife and wild places, issues driven by natural resource conservation, humans as part of the environment, living in a continuum of cultural tradition, lifestyles in conjunction with changes in the natural world and how young people encounter and understand the natural world. The motivating force behind ACFF is the power of film to engage, inform and inspire.
ACFF will accept only short film submissions of 40 minutes and under for our 21st year.* Screening films from all over the world, the American Conservation Film Festival (ACFF) is an annual event held in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, a vibrant, arts-focused community 70 miles west of the nation’s capital.
Awareness Film Festival
The mission of the Awareness Film Festival is bringing awareness and to open eyes to some of our world's pressing issues: Ecological, Political, Health/Well Being and the Spirit. We showcase both Documentary and Narrative Features, as well as Short Films, Music Videos and Public Service Announcements. We have filmmaker Q&A's, filmmaker Panels, as well as conscious art and music.
Bentonville Film Festival
The Bentonville Film Festival is an annual event chaired by Academy Award® winner Geena Davis in partnership with founding sponsor Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola. The 2024 festival, similar to the past few years, will take place as a hybrid version of virtual showings and on-the-ground events. We will celebrate this year’s featured films and panels globally from our homes, as well as with local in-person screenings, panels and events for those in the Northwest Arkansas region. This year, our 10th anniversary festival dates will be June 10 - June 17, 2024 in Bentonville.
BFFoundation is a non-profit organization focused on promoting underrepresented voices of diverse storytellers. We want to amplify female, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, API, and people with disabilities in entertainment and media. We do this through research, education, and supporting the production and distribution of inclusive content.
Colorado Environmental Film Festival
The Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF) is the premier environmental film festival between the two coasts, annually screening the world's best environmental films in beautiful Colorado!
Through our annual festival, CEFF celebrates the power of film to inspire, educate, and motivate audiences to protect and preserve our environment. Founded by a dedicated and passionate core group of environmentally-minded educators, filmmakers, and supporters, CEFF is Colorado’s first and only international film festival that is hyper-focused on environmental themes. The Colorado Environmental Film Festival showcases thought-provoking stories that inspire environmental awareness, conservation, and the urgent need for sustainable change. CEFF sparks essential conversations, empowering individuals and communities to take action, fostering a collective determination to protect our planet and drive meaningful change locally and around the world.
DC Environmental Film Festival
DCEFF has been the premier Festival showcase of environmental films since 1993. Each March in Washington, DC, we bring the world’s largest green film festival to massive in-person audiences. Since 2020, we have focused on extending our reach beyond DC to the entire world with our virtual Festivals and ever-growing Watch Now catalog. In 2023, we were extremely excited to return to venues across the DC Metro for in-person screenings and events — in addition to continuing to offer year-round virtual programming for our audiences around the world. The 32nd Annual Festival will be held March 21-30, 2024.
Global Peace Film Festival
The Global Peace Film Festival is story and community in action. As Martin Luther King, Jr posited, “Peace is not only the absence of conflict, but also the presence of justice.” Since the search for justice resides in stories beyond war, GPFF seeks stories that make us laugh, think, cry, sit taller in our seats, then ask, “What can I do?” To answer that question, we pair films with post-screening discussions and events that inspire and catalyze our audiences to take positive, non-violent action.
Beyond the program, GPFF collaborates with filmmakers, changemakers and organizations to model, inspire and track peaceful change on the personal, local, national or global level. Our motto is “It starts here” because the real work of our mission starts when the lights come up and our audience meets the inspiration of our programming with their own good works.
Mountainfilm
For 46 years, using the power of film, art and ideas, Mountainfilm inspires audiences to create a better world. Held every Memorial Day weekend (this year May 23–27, 2024), the festival brings together a community of filmmakers and change makers, showcasing documentary films that celebrate adventure, activism, social justice, environment and indomitable spirit. We accept and screen feature and short films on a broad range of subjects. We are always interested in work that focuses on mountains (both symbolic and physical), mountain culture, and mountaineering, but we also showcase films about people who are dedicated to changing the world.
One Earth Festival
One Earth Film Festival is the Midwest’s premier environmental film festival, creating opportunities for understanding climate change, sustainability, and the power of people. This hybrid festival is screened online nationally and internationally and at select in-person locations in the Chicago area, including top museums and community centers. The One Earth Film Festival showcases top-issue, thought-provoking films that explore the intersection of climate change and environmental justice. Professional facilitators lead audiences in interactive post-film discussions with expert panelists from top scientific and community-based organizations and filmmakers – you could be one of them! Focused on solutions, the Film Festival offers concrete actions people can take to address the most pressing environmental issues of our time. One Earth Film Festival is a production of One Earth Collective.
We are looking for films that present a compelling story about environmental issues, that offer solutions, and that have the potential to transform viewers’ thinking and motivate them to take action or change their behavior.
Visions of Nature, Voices of Nature
For over 25 years, the “Visions of Nature/Voices of Nature” Environmental Film Festival has brought compelling and important films to the Tampa Bay area and the Eckerd College community to raise awareness and promote discussion of matters relating to nature, place, and the environment.
Film scholars as well as established and emerging filmmakers from around the world engage the audience in a lively dialogue about the environmental perspectives contained in documentary, animated, experimental, and feature films.
Wild and Scenic Film Festival
In February 2025, SYRCL's (South Yuba River Citizens League) 23rd Annual Wild & Scenic® Film Festival returns with an incredible selection of films to change your world. Each year, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival draws top filmmakers, celebrities, leading activists, social innovators, and well-known world adventurers to the historic towns of Nevada City and Grass Valley in California.
Wild & Scenic features environmental and adventure films from around the world that illustrate the earth's beauty, the challenges facing our planet, and the work communities are doing to protect the environment. We welcome documentary and narrative shorts and features about nature, community activism, intentional adventure, conservation, health, water, energy, climate change, wildlife, environmental justice, food, and farming. Our objective is to inform, inspire, and ignite solutions to restore the earth and human communities while creating a positive future for the next generation through stellar filmmaking, beautiful cinematography, and first-rate storytelling. Films are curated into themed tracks, which pair projects with complimentary subject matter or ideas to create a cinematic journey for audiences.
I hope you get a chance to experience movies playing in these and other film festivals, and whenever possible, engage in their calls to action.
Thanks to production companies like Participant Media and Impact Partners, and support organizations like Journeys in Film, Creative Visions, Plus Media Solutions, and the Norman Lear Center, we have the data that proves these movies can create positive change.
For a deeper dive into Filmmaking for Change, join us on April 10th. Click below to register.