The 14th Annual Environmental Film Festival showcased 100 films in D.C. this week, including four at American University.
The festival "celebrates the beauty and significance of our environment while promoting advocacy for its responsible stewardship," according to the program.
Chris Palmer, film producer and director of Environmental Filmmaking at AU, shared his experiences filming sharks, bears, and other wildlife. Palmer involved the audience by asking them questions about how to produce "a film that has the power to change to world." Palmer said that the keys to making good films are caring, passion, and integrity. He illustrated his points with clips from his own IMAX films, as well as the films of colleagues and students.
"Filming bears, sharks and other dangerous animals, and living to tell about it, requires you to be respectful of them, to keep your distance, and to work closely with respected scientists who have studied the animal's behavior," Palmer said.
Palmer said the audience was very enthusiastic.
"The whole festival is going really well...I'm very pleased with the high level of interest" he said.
Palmer, who served on the festival's advisory board, said that the festival is growing. "We're attracting more and more high-level films," he said.
Palmer said that most people who attend the events are already interested in the environment. People come to find new information, and increase their level of education.
"The big challenge is how to attract people who are not interested in environmental issues," he said. "We have to produce films that are more interesting, more entertaining, have more humor, and more compelling characters. We need to tell great stories. Then we'll start appealing to people who are not card-carrying members of the Sierra Club."
Riley Neugebauer, AU's environmental coordinator, said she enjoyed Palmer's presentation.
"I was actually amazed how many people were there," she said.
According to Neugebauer, film is a good tool for education and to increase public relations for non-profits, since it reaches a broad audience.
"A lot of people will watch a film who wouldn't normally watch the Discovery Channel," she said.
Other events at AU included "Buyer Be Fair, the Promise of Product Certification," a film focusing on Fair Trade coffee and Forest Stewardship Council certified wood. Filmmaker John de Graaf addressed "how consumers and businesses use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling," according to fliers.
"Banking on Disaster," a film by Adrian Cowell, "illuminates the role of the World Bank in the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest." The film was followed by a panel discussion on whether a movie can save the rainforest.
Finally, "Finding the Story: From the Amazon to Burma and Back," Cowell lectured and showed clips from his experiences documenting opium over eight years in Burma and a "Decade of Destruction" in the Amazon.
