Opening Night Reception & Film
Thursday, July 16 — 5:30PM to 9:00PM
Start at the Hilton Garden Inn and End at the Dairy Arts Center
Reception at Hilton Garden Inn Boulder on Canyon. Outdoor Courtyard
Buffet, Passed Appetizers, & Libations (cocktails, wine, beer, or soft drink).
Live Music by The Atom Collective, a jazz band making people happy on Colorado’s front range since 2019.
Kyle Banker at Piano, Tobin Munsat on Drums, Adisa Nickerson on Trumpet, & Todd Van Selus on Bass. Click here for short clip
Film at 7:30PM at Dairy Arts Center — THE KEEPER
We suggest you park free at the DAC and walk 2 blocks to the Garden Inn
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Opening Night Film - THE KEEPER with Director Jon Bowermaster and Cindy Medina, Colorado WaterKeepers
Dairy Arts Center — Gordon Gamm Theater
Thursday Opener at 7:30 pm
Cantankerous, charismatic and passionately committed, this river keeper — John Lipscomb — reflects on his 25 years patrolling the Hudson River, traveling more than 80,000 miles, by wooden boat.
Like rivers around the world, the Hudson — America’s First River and the Birthplace of the American Environmental Movement — boomed as a growing human population used it for transportation, sustenance and for many years a dumping ground.
The river paid a price for all this use and abuse, struggling against its share of contamination. For the past nearly three decades the river’s poet laureate and literal “eyes on the river,” Captain John, has been at the forefront of each of those fights, taking on industrial and human pollution, suffering the losses and celebrating victories.
While he has had successes on the Hudson, committing a life to protecting a river is a never- ending fight. Today he is one of more than 300 “keepers” around the globe, looking out for their respective rivers.
Directed by Jon Bowermaster
Runtime: 80 minutes
Writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon Bowermaster
Writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon Bowermaster is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741 mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. Jon has written eleven books and produced/directed more than thirty documentary films. His feature documentaries include ‘Dear President Obama,’ ‘Antarctica, on the Edge,’ ‘After the Spill’ and ‘Ghost Fleet.’ (oceans8films.com) His National Geographic-sponsored Oceans 8 project took him and his teams around the world by sea kayak over the course of ten years (1999-2008), bringing back stories from the Aleutian Islands to French Polynesia, Gabon to Tasmania, and more, reporting on how the planet’s one ocean and its various coastlines are faring in today’s busy world. Jon lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. He is the President of the One Ocean Media Foundation, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Adventure Science and Creative Affiliate of The Safina Center. For the past several years, Jon and his One Ocean Media Foundation / Oceans 8 Films team have focused on a series of short films about the environmental risks to, and hopes for the Hudson River Valley, the birthplace of the American environmental movement. (hudsonriverstories.com) Jon is a Visiting Lecturer at Bard College, in the Environment and Urban Studies Department; tune into his weekly radio show/podcast, ‘The Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster,’ at
radiokingston.org.
Colorado RiverKeeper Cindy Medina
Cindy's love for the natural world inspired her environmental work in the Alamosa River watershed. As Alamosa Riverkeeper, she helped implement the first instream flow in the Alamosa River to help in the recovery of fish that was decimated by the release of cyanide and heavy metals from Summitville, Colorado's worst mining disaster.
The Colorado Water Trust recognized Cindy with the David Getches Flowing Waters Award for improving environmental water resources and recreational values in the Alamosa River through her efforts in collaboration, innovation, and inspiration. She was also selected as a River Hero at Winter Park's Headwaters Center.
Cindy's book, A Journey into the Heart of the Black Madonna: Self-Discovery, Spirituality and Activism, describes the emergence of her environmental stewardship and the values of grassroots participation.
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Indigenous leader Juma Xipaia
Friday, July 17 at 4:00 PM @ Boedecker Cinema
YANUNI
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In Brazil’s Amazon, fearless Indigenous leader Juma Xipaia defends her land and people against forces threatening their survival. Her extraordinary courage and resilience is captured here—as mother, warrior, and a symbol of resistance for her people.
The film follows the life and activism of Juma Xipaia, an Indigenous leader from the Brazilian Amazon. The film traces her journey from her community in Xipaya territory to national politics, where she became Brazil’s first Secretary of Articulation and Promotion of Indigenous Rights under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. It highlights Juma’s role in defending her people and the rainforest against illegal mining, land-grabbing, and corporate exploitation, despite surviving multiple assassination attempts. It also portrays her partnership with Hugo Loss, her husband and head of Special Operations at Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, who conducts high-risk missions to dismantle illegal mining camps.
Director Richard Ladkani
Runtime: 112 mins.
In 1957, world renowned wildlife artist, Robert Bateman and spirited biologist, Bristol Foster embark on an global expedition in a Land Rover called "The Grizzly Torque"- setting in motion a powerful story of environmental activism.
Friday, July 17 at 4:30PM @ Gordon Gamm Theater
THE ART OF ADVENTURE
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Between 1957 and 1958, Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster undertook the adventure of a lifetime — driving a Land Rover dubbed “the Grizzly Torque” 30,000 kilometres across Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia. More than just an adrenaline-pumping adventure story of two young men crossing half the planet, The Art of Adventure maps out how Bateman and Foster’s trip inspired a love of nature that would last a lifetime. The film interweaves an account of their travels with a look their lives through the decades that followed: Bateman became a beloved Canadian wildlife painter and Foster a prominent biologist and the first director of BC’s Ecological Reserves program. Through in-depth interviews with friends and family and the original 16mm film footage of their incredible journey, director Alison Reid shows how the trip expanded the pair’s knowledge of the physical world while deepening their spiritual and emotional connection to it. A heartwarming, inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
-“A rare kind of documentary - intimate, awe-filled, and unforgettable. It reminds us that wonder isn’t childish; it’s essential.”
-“An outstanding doc that provides joy in the self-discovery that only seems possible from exploring far off places with an open heart.”
-“A bromance for the ages!”
-“As much a celebration of friendship as it is of the natural world”
Directed by Alison Reid
Runtime: 86 mins
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Thermal image of methane emissions in Pecos, TX
Friday, July 17 at 7:00PM @ BOEDECKER CINEMA
THIS IS NOT A DRILL
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Discussion afterwards with director Oren Jacoby via Zoom
As extreme weather around the world grows deadlier, a new generation of leaders is rising to face the challenges. In the American South, hard hit by climate disasters, three unlikely heroes take on one of the most powerful industries in the world.
25-year-old Justin J. Pearson rallies a multiracial grassroots coalition to try and defeat a crude oil pipeline in Memphis, Tennessee. Roishetta Ozane, a mother of six from Louisiana, transforms personal loss into political action, taking her fight from the storm-ravaged streets to the halls of Congress. Sharon Wilson, a former oil insider turned methane hunter, uses infrared cameras to expose invisible deadly gases pouring from fracking sites and pipelines in Texas that have been hiding in plain sight.
Backing them are unlikely allies, descendents of John D. Rockefeller, who have turned against their family’s oil empire to expose ExxonMobil’s decades long coverup. Together, this coalition uncovers what they call Big Oil’s “Big Con”—an industry doubling down on fossil fuels while disguising the truth.
With gripping access, THIS IS NOT A DRILL is the story of courage, betrayal and grassroots victories that shows how people, armed with only grit and determination, can stand up to power. The smallest voices can topple giants.
Audience Award—Best Documentary Feature (Globe Docs)
Directed by Oren Jacoby
Runtime: 76 mins
OREN JACOBY
Director / Producer / Writer
Oren Jacoby is an Academy Award-nominated director, writer, and producer. His new film, This Is Not a Drill will premiere this summer. Sister Rose’s Passion (HBO), won Best Documentary Short Film at the Tribeca Film Festival and received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Short. On Broadway (PBS) tells the story of how the Broadway theater helped save New York City. Shadowman (Amazon) was Audience Award runner-up at the Tribeca Film Festival. Jacoby directed and co-wrote Constantine’s Sword with James Carroll. Other director/producer credits: Lady ‘Ndrangheta (Sky) on women in the Mafia; Elon Musk (Bloomberg TV) for the Risk Takers series; The Beatles Revolution (ABC, VH-1); Master Thief, on the ‘art heist of the century’ (ABC); Topdog Diaries (PBS) with Suzan-Lori Parks; Sam Shepard: Stalking Himself (PBS); Idols of the Game (TBS) with Michael Jordan; and The Second Russian Revolution (BBC) won the DuPont /Columbia Gold Baton for Best Documentary Series. Jacoby's films have been supported by the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, and the American Film Institute.
Shepherd Eves atop the Pyranees
Friday, July 17 at 7:30PM @ Gordon Gamm Theater
THE SHEPHERD AND THE BEAR
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Followed by a pre-recorded Zoom conversation with director Max Keegan
Set high in the majestic French Pyrenees, THE SHEPHERD AND THE BEAR explores a conflict provoked by the reintroduction of brown bears in the midst of a traditional shepherding community. The film follows an aging shepherd who struggles to find a successor as bears prey on his flock, and a teenage boy who becomes obsessed with tracking the bears. Through its breathtaking cinematography and immersive storytelling, THE SHEPHERD AND THE BEAR is a modern folktale about tradition, community and humanity’s relationship with a vanishing natural world.
The film won the Living with Wildlife Award at the 48th International Wildlife Film Festival and played at Margaret Mead Film Festival in the American Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, Big Sky Documentary, Visions du Réel, Full Frame, Sydney Film Festival, Salem Film Fest where it was nominated for the American Cinematography Magazine Award.
–“Lyrical, visually and aurally ravishing” – Screen Daily
–“Unforgettable, visually stunning” – Deadline
–“A richly satisfying reminder of the power of longitudinal verite” – Filmmaker Magazin
–“The look and feel of a fairy tale” – Doc Europe
Directed by Max Keegan
Runtime: 101 mins
Max Keegan – Director, Writer, Producer
Max is a British-Irish filmmaker from West-Sussex. His debut documentary feature THE SHEPHERD AND THE BEAR is supported by Sundance Catalyst and Impact Partners, and sponsored by Canon and Sigma. In order to make this film, Max learned to speak French from scratch and spent three years in France.
Saturday, July 18 at 1:00PM @ Boedecker cinema
Three SHORT FILMS ABOUT BIRDS
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Discussion afterward: TBD
THE BIRDS
Told through the cinematic experience of wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn, THE BIRDS finds meaning and pathos as it gets up close to one of England’s little-known wonders of the natural world. As Martin chases down the twisting and turning of giant flocks of shore birds on England’s Wash estuary, he attempts to literally record evolution in action as a peregrine falcon scythes through the mind-blowing murmurations – astonishingly large numbers of birds flying in synchronized patterns and creating shapes in the air. Ultimately, this feature short reveals important insights not only into the hidden mechanisms of nature, but also into the psyche of a man facing up to the end of his career.
Directed by Dave Allen
Runtime: 40 minutes
WILD HOPE: BUILDING FOR BIRDS
Millions of birds pass through our yards during their bi-annual migrations, but they face an invisible killer along the way: glass windows. In the US alone, an estimated one billion birds die each year when they collide with windows. Now, two organizations help pave the way to a bird-friendly future.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. is located in the middle of a major migration route that birds have flown for thousands of years. To stop collisions from happening on their campus, the Zoo’s team uses patterned decals to make glass visible to our feathered friends. In New York City, migrating birds face a gauntlet of concentrated glass – and many do not survive. The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was once one of the city’s worst offenders, but creative renovations have transformed the building into a wildlife oasis.
The Zoo and the Javits Center have inspired groundbreaking legislation that reimagines what our cities can do for birds, but a critical obstacle remains: our residences account for nearly 50% of bird strikes. However, simple solutions—like window paint, decals, or even a bar of soap with patterns spaced 2 inches apart—could save the lives of millions of birds.
Directed by Tangle Bank Studios
Runtime: 16 minutes
A MYSTICAL ORNITHOLOGY
In this lyrical portrait, ornithologist, poet, and professor Drew Lanham invites us into his South Carolina farm, where birdwatching becomes both refuge and revelation. As he listens for absent songs in the spring air, Drew not only reckons with loss and memory but also takes action—cultivating his land as a sanctuary, an underground railroad for winged migrants. His reflections move beyond science into wonder, blurring the line between human and bird. For Drew, they are more than names on a list—they are companions, teachers, and a last wild hope.
Directed by Jeremy Seifert and Benjamin James Roberts
Runtime: 11 minutes
Saturday, July 18 at 4:00PM @ Boedecker cinema
Nature and Outdoors Short Films Program
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Finalists of short films Program curated from over 100 submissions to the festival in 2026 - An eclectic mix of environmental Advocacy, Wildlife conservation, and artistic expressions of nature and what it all means to us.
2026 SELECTIONS:
TALKING TO THE SUN
TALKING TO THE SUN is a short documentary of astronomical proportions joining Farmer Frank as he takes care of his small spot on Earth, making his own path from seed to harvest.
As he mentors people in his community who want to learn from his great experience and love for nature, Frank grows organic food and is an important part of our community!
Directed by Megan Sweeney
Runtime: 20 mins.
WILDERNESS
There is something about the wilderness that is both intangible and universally appreciated by the people who visit it, and this bond is what has inspired a group of dedicated volunteers to come together to help preserve the Indian Peaks Wilderness. From trail maintenance to outreach, discover the bountiful labour that is needed to preserve the magic of these spaces. Uncover the individual stories that have led each member to the wilderness, and why they are dedicated to protecting it. And through all of this, witness the love, passion, and community that the wilderness imparts.
Directed by Andy Ichiro Sameshima, Cade Birgfeld
Runtime: 14:06 mins.
PEST
The ways in which humans live alongside urban wildlife is explored through the eyes of those who work to save them and those whose job it is to eradicate them. Experts discuss wildlife management and the ways in which we can better coexist with the natural world.
Alexandra Faust is an independent filmmaker, with a background in environmental studies. She recently graduated from Colorado Film School
Directed by Alexandra S Faust
Runtime: 13:33 mins.
RIVER STORIES
Set along Colorado’s South St. Vrain Creek, River Stories explores the deep connections between rivers, restoration, and community resilience. Through the voices of scientists, land stewards, and local residents, the film follows a collaborative effort to restore a river shaped by wildfire, flooding, and climate change—revealing how healing waterways can also strengthen the relationships people have with the landscapes they call home.Set along Colorado’s South St. Vrain Creek, River Stories explores the deep connections between rivers, restoration, and community resilience. Through the voices of scientists, land stewards, and local residents, the film follows a collaborative effort to restore a river shaped by wildfire, flooding, and climate change—revealing how healing waterways can also strengthen the relationships people have with the landscapes they call home.
Directed by David Diaz
Runtime: 14 mins.
SPEAKING EEP!
SPEAKING EEP! highlights women-led science and calls attention to the importance of the American pika as an indicator species. Ultimately, the message of the film is one of hope that focuses on the potential for these beloved critters to adapt to an increasingly fragile environment.
Featuring great characters, fascinating science, and cinematic footage of stunning mountain vistas and adorable pikas, (and lots of "eeps"!), this film transports viewers high up into Colorado's Rocky Mountains for an experience that is sure to delight and inspire.
Directed by Jim Jayson, JinYoung, Kim Jayson
Runtime: 18:46 mins.
OLD LADIES AGAINST UNDERWATER GARBAGE
Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage follows Susan Baur, the 85-year-old leader, and her crew of fearless women as they defy limits, protect the environment, and rediscover wonder and joy through water and community. A reminder that adventure and activism know no age.
Directed by Liz McGregor
Runtime: 14:59 mins.
FOREVER IN THE MOUNTAINS
When her best “pow day” friend is diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age, Stephanie turns her grief into purpose. Set deep in the Colorado Rockies, Forever in the Mountains tells the powerful origin story of the nonprofit Tits Deep for Breast Cancer. Join Stephanie as she navigates grief, finds sisterhood, and works to save young lives in the mountains.
Tits Deep for Breast Cancer is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that focuses on advocacy, education, outreach, and supporting young women seeking breast cancer treatment. Our mission is to help younger women catch cancer early enough to save their lives. www.titsdeepforbreastcancer.com
Directed by Grace Eggleston
Runtime: 14 mins.
DAWN CHORUS
Dawn Chorus is a meditative and thought-provoking short documentary following interspecies musician and philosopher David Rothenberg as he ventures into the natural world with an unusual mission: to make music with birds. Blending art and science, the film explores the relationships between observer and participant, musician and animal, human and nature.
In a time of growing ecological alienation and environmental urgency, Dawn Chorus doesn’t propose technological fixes or policy solutions, but something more fundamental: a shift in mindset. It asks us to slow down, to listen and to recognize that we, too, are part of nature’s song.
Directed by Lewis Rapkin
Runtime: 11:33 mins.
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THE LAKE premiered at 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Saturday, July 18 at 4:30PM @ Gordon Gamm Theater
THE LAKE
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Director Abby ellis will join us in person
Climate Change Doc From Leonardo DiCaprio, Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi Raises Alarms About the Fate of the Great Salt Lake
An environmental nuclear bomb looms in Utah, as they race to prevent a catastrophic ecological and public health collapse.
The Lake is a vérité film that follows three individuals (two intrepid scientists Bonnie Baxter and Ben Abbott alongside political insider Brian Steed) fighting to save a dying lake. They see what’s coming—poisoned air, a collapsing ecosystem, a community on the brink—and they throw themselves into the everyday, often mundane work of trying to stop it. As they push against bureaucracy, apathy, and the ticking clock of a crisis decades in the making, something eerie and heartbreaking lingers at the edges: the dust rising in the background, a reminder of what will be lost if they fail.
2026 Sundance Winner - Special Jury Award for Impact for Change
“‘The Lake’ is so much more than a regionally isolated issue documentary. Its lessons should apply to every single environmental fight around the world.” -Variety
Directed by Abby Ellis
Runtime: 88 minutes
Abby Ellis
Director/Producer/
Editor
Abby Ellis is a Peabody Award–winning and Emmy-nominated director whose work examines the moments and institutions that shape our lives. Her film, The Lake, will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary Competition. The film is executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandbox Films, Little Monster Films, Cranium Productions, among others. Prior to The Lake, Abby produced AMERICA DIVIDED, the Norman Lear– and Shonda Rhimes–executive-produced series exploring inequality across the United States, and later directed FLINT’S DEADLY WATER, a multi-year investigative documentary that exposed a deadly disease outbreak and systemic negligence during the Flint water crisis. In 2020, she served as the Hollyhock Filmmaker-in-Residence at PBS FRONTLINE, where she wrote, directed, and produced SHOTS FIRED, an unflinching examination of police shootings. Her work has earned a Peabody Award, multiple Emmy nominations, and honors including the Edward R. Murrow, Scripps Howard, and Izzy Awards; she was named to DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 list in 2023, she is a member of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association and serves frequently as a juror and panelist, and teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah’s film school. At the start of her career Abby spent six years at VICE where she developed, produced and edited some of the network’s most pivotal channels and award-winning shows, from character-driven social and cultural documentaries to the news magazine series VICE on HBOhe way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Southern Nevada Mojave Desert with DOE map overlay entitled “Community monitoring stations around the Nevada Test Site”
Saturday, July 18 at 7:00PM @ BOEDECKER CINEMA
TO USE A MOUNTAIN with Director Casey CARTER
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Q&A with Director Casey Carter
Seconds of exposure, generations of debate, the history of nations, and epochs of geologic change – all overlap in the landscapes that define the American nuclear legacy and the quest to isolate 77,000 tons of nuclear waste for 10,000 years. TO USE A MOUNTAIN presents vignettes of ruin and salvation in six candidate communities for the nation’s sacrificial nuclear dumping ground.
Directed by Casey Carter
Runtime: 99 Mins
CASEY CARTER is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary designer
CASEY CARTER is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary designer whose work engages nonfiction storytelling in film, photography, data visualization, and cartography. Working through a mixture of portraiture, real and imagined spaces and landscapes, and evidentiary documents and media, his work centers on themes of governmentality, geography, and environmentalism. He is a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Film/Video Artist Fellow, was a 2019 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Grantee, a recipient of the 2019 Points North Fellowship, and a 2017-2018 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio Fellow. His short documentary TWO PRISONS was published by Popula as the inaugural film of The Brick House Cooperative, a new transnational free press publication, and screened at festivals including Salem, Ashland Independent, SF Shorts, as well as with Hong Kong activist groups as part of the 2019 pro-democracy uprising. His short documentary RIGHTS OF NATURE was exhibited at the New Museum, and his photographs have been published and exhibited in the US, Ecuador, and China. He currently works as the research director and project coordinator for the What Is Missing? Foundation – a global multimedia memorial to the ongoing sixth mass extinction by Artist and Architect Maya Lin. He holds a B.S. in Physics and B.S. in Photography from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Michigan. He is the director, cinematographer, and editor for his first feature, TO USE A MOUNTAIN.
burn, scar
Saturday, July 18 at 7:30PM @ Gordon Gamm Theater
burn, Scar
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Director HillarY Bachelder and Camille Stevens-Rumann, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute will join us for a discussion
Prescribed fire– the practice of setting small burns to clear ecosystems of overgrowth– is a critical tool for climate resiliency and forest health. But in 2022, a burn set by the U.S. Forest Service in the mountains of northern New Mexico escaped its firelines and spiraled out of control to become the largest wildfire in the state’s history. Weaving together both sides of the story – the locals impacted by the fire and struggling to rebuild, alongside the Forest Service’s efforts to resume stewardship of the land following their tragic misstep – “burn, scar” is a personal and nuanced story of resilience, resistance, and our enduring connection to the land and each other.
Directed by: Hillary Bachelder
Length: 90 mins
Hillary Bachelder is an award-winning documentary director, cinematographer, and editor based in Taos, New Mexico
Originally from Farmingdale, Maine, Hillary began her career with the renowned documentary company Kartemquin Films in Chicago, earning credits on over a dozen critically acclaimed films and series including the Emmy-award-winning Trials of Muhammad Ali and Oscar-nominated Minding the Gap.
After founding Backbone Films in 2016, Hillary went on to earn cinematography credits on films such as The Dilemma of Desire, which premiered at South by Southwest in 2020, Frontline’s American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil, and the award-winning Any Given Day. Her editing work includes Frontline’s Emmy and Peabody-nominee American Reckoning, National Geographic’s Emmy-award-winning The Flagmakers, and an Edward R Murrow award-winning New York Times collaboration.
Hillary is the director, cinematographer, and editor of the critically-acclaimed feature documentary Represent, which premiered in over 60 theaters across the country and broadcast nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens in October 2020. Her second feature, based in the mountains of northern New Mexico, will be released in 2026.
Camille Stevens Rumann
Camille Stevens Rumann is an Associate Professor of Fire Ecology at Colorado State University and the Director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute. Camille has worked in fire for 20 years, first as a fire fighter and now studies many aspects of forests and fire, before, during and after wildfires.
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MELT
Sunday, July 19 at 1:00PM @ Boedecker Cinema
MELT
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In his inimitable way, Geyrhalter (OUR DAILY BREAD, HOMO SAPIENS) travels the world of snow and ice. From Japan to the Alps, Northern Canada to Iceland, and Antarctica; MELT is the story of people living amid the gradual disappearance of the ice that was once presumed infinite.
Along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route in Japan, bulldozers carve out spectacular, 50-feet-high walls of snow to build corridors specifically to attract tourists, while the celebrated ski region Val-d'Isère in southern France uses artificial snow to create a winter wonderland. In Switzerland, snowplows carve furrows into the glaciers to preserve the snow for the coming winter sports season. And in Iceland, visitors pose in front of gigantic blocks of ice that are gradually being swallowed by the sea. Everything seems normal – but behind the apparently perfect white facade, the world's ice and snow are melting at an alarming rate.
Everywhere Geyrhalter goes, his subjects talk of melting glaciers and increasingly extreme weather conditions, revealing how they experience climate change in their everyday lives and work. Filmed between 2021 and 2025, MELT preserves some of the world's most compelling frozen landscapes, addressing some of the greatest environmental and political questions of our age.
“A meticulous, contemplative sweep of the globe, Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s impressive doc takes stock of humanity’s toil to control ice and snow as the climate crisis advances.”
—Carmen Gray, The Film Verdict
“Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s latest documentary is a fascinating, unsentimental love letter to snow and icy landscapes.”
—Susanne Gottlieb, Cineuropa
Directed by Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Runtime: 127 mins
Dr. Steve Boyes, conservation biologist and National Geographic Explorer
Sunday, July 19 at 1:30PM @ Gordon gamm theater
GHOST ELEPHANTS
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Join us AFTERWARDS for a discussion — TBD
For over a decade, Dr. Steve Boyes, conservation biologist and National Geographic Explorer, has been in search of a mysterious, elusive herd of Ghost Elephants in the highlands of Angola, deep within its forests. From acclaimed director Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man”), GHOST ELEPHANTS follows Boyes on an epic journey as he sets out with some of the best master trackers in the world, in pursuit of an animal long believed to be a myth.
“This hypnotic and haunting documentary turns a search for mythical beasts into a profound meditation on memory, loss, and the vanishing wild.” – Screen Zealots
Directed by Werner Herzog
Runtime: 99 mins
Closing Night Film at Dairy Arts Center, Includes Award Presentation, Closing Film (THE LAST DIVE) and Reception at VELVET ELK LOUNGE on 13th Street
Alex Antoniou, Ph.D., our 2026 EARTH ANGEL HONOREE
Prior to Closing Night film, the festival will honor Alex Antoniou with the festival’s EARTH ANGEL statuette for his work in marine life conservation advocacy and education.
Dr. Antoniou began his shark conservation path in 1994 as the Director of Field Operations for the Shark Research Institute based in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the first to tag whale sharks in the Caribbean with satellite transmitters, tracking the sharks thousands of miles and to great depths of the Gulf of Mexico. He is currently working as the volunteer CEO for Fins Attached, which he founded in 2010. He has had a passion for shark research and conservation for over 25 years.
Dr. Antoniou has had projects in Honduras, Baja California, the Galapagos, Costa Rica, Malpelo Island, Guadalupe Island, and the Revillagigedo Islands. On October 28, 1999, Dr. Antoniou met with 50 Honduran government officials to ask for protection for whale sharks in their waters. After reviewing data provided, the Honduran government decreed the whale shark a protected species their territorial waters. Passage of this law made Honduras the first nation in the Caribbean to protect whale sharks.
In 2002 Dr. Antoniou attended the CITES CoP12 in Santiago Chile where the whale shark had been proposed for Appendix II listing. Alex spoke in front of all delegates providing data to convince member nations to vote in favor of the listing, which they did. This was followed by attending CITES CoP16 in Bangkok, where the hammerhead sharks, giant manta rays, and porbeagle sharks achieved appendix II listings.
In 2016 Dr. Antoniou lobbied a grocery store chain headquarters in Colorado to remove all products containing shark ingredients off their shelves. The store was Natural Grocers. A total of seven items were removed from sale. Fins Attached has also been involved in advocacy work. In March of 2017 a position statement was submitted to NOAA Fisheries to lobby for the Oceanic Whitetip shark to be placed on the US Endangered Species list, which occurred.
Over the past thirty plus years, Dr. Antoniou has established strong partnerships with scientists around the world. In recognition for his dedication towards shark conservation, Alex was awarded the 2017 “Shark Guardian of the Year” award from the Shark Project of Germany.
In 2022, Dr. Antoniou spearheaded the creation of an ocean coalition called, One Ocean Worldwide Coalition, comprising of Fins Attached, The Rob Stewart Sharkwater Foundation, For the Oceans Foundation and United Conservationists. The equation is simple, Save Sharks + Save our Oceans = Save Us.
Alex lives in Colorado Springs, CO
Terry Kennedy diving with Willy Wow
2026 Boulder Environmental/Nature/Outdoors Film Festival
Closing Night Program includes (Award Presentation, Closing Film at the Dairy Arts Center, and then the Festival wrap party at the Velvet Elk Lounge 13th street Boulder)
Sunday, July 19 at 4:00PM @ Gordon gamm theater
CLOSING FILM: THE LAST DIVE
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Followed by a pre-recorded interview with Director Cody Sheehy
Terry Kennedy is a legend. A former associate of the Hell’s Angels, he sailed into the Sea of Cortez in the 1980s on a boat named Erotica. But while Terry’s friends have great memories of partying with him at sea, his legacy goes beyond mere popularity. His time on the water transformed Terry, who devoted his life to the conservation of manta rays after bonding with a giant manta he named “Willy Wow.” Over 19 years off the coast of San Benedicto Island, Terry and Willy Wow developed an extraordinary relationship that changed our understanding of mantas forever.
Now in his eighties, Terry goes on the adventure of a lifetime in The Last Dive, setting sail with his friends and a documentary crew in hopes of fulfilling his “dying wish” to swim with Willy Wow one more time. Director Cody Sheehy takes viewers along on their journey, using Terry’s story as a window into the developing science behind manta rays’ extraordinary intelligence, as well as the urgent need to protect these “gentle giants” and their stunning natural habitat.
Directed by Cody Sheehy
Runtime: 88 mins
Director Cody Sheehy
Cody Sheehy is an award-winning filmmaker whose films intimately tell the stories of characters challenged by our changing world. He has lived on a sailboat for decades and is the founder of Rhumbline Media.
Closing NIGHT Award Ceremony, FILM, & Reception
Sunday, July 19
Film at 4:00PM at Dairy Arts Center THE LAST DIVE
Reception from 6:15PM to 8:15PM
Reception at Velvet Elk Lounge, on 13th Street
Libations & Appetizers, Live Music
Hazel Miller and the Collective
RAFFLE PRIZES GALORE!
We suggest you park free (on Sundays) at the Boulderado Hotel, Boulder Bookstore, or on a street nearby
Click to BUY Ticket for Reception and Film Combined - $70
Click to BUY “AWARD CEREMONY and FILM ONLY” ticket - $20
Purchase your closing night tickets online or at the DAC Box Office prior to dates!
Or Purchase A Festival Pass - no service charges on any festival tickets after the initial fee for the pass.
Closing Night Performer Hazel Miller and the Collective
Colorado-based music icon Hazel Miller has a reputation for “bringing it” whether the event is a club setting, concert, festival, or non-profit fundraiser. Hazel has toured North America, Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, and Central America. Her powerful voice stands out and her beautiful spirit shines through to the delight of her loyal fans. With one of the tightest and most versatile bands on the scene, this show will please not only Mom, but the whole family.
Your ticket includes a buffet and a complimentary drink (Wine, Beer, Cocktail, or Soda)