We are ecstatic to share our 2021 Official Selections with you! Click here to explore the full list of films.
In exploring this year’s theme of Resilient by Nature, festival-goers can expect to see award-winning films about nature, community activism, adventure, conservation, water, energy and climate change, wildlife, environmental justice, agriculture, and more.
Throughout the programming, you will see the theme reflected and be reminded that, as individuals and communities, we are inherently resilient, drawing on our strengths, talents, and lived experiences to innovate and inspire positive change for a better world. The theme also offers a lens to help us look to nature as a model for resiliency and seek to create solutions to environmental challenges through nature-inspired designs and strategies.
There are so many wonderful films this year it’s hard to choose which to highlight, but below are a few favorites. Stay tuned for other film highlights and synopses along with trailers, filmmaker interviews & more in the forthcoming newsletters throughout December and January.
In Pedal Through, you are invited into the world of director-lead Analise Cleopatra as she discovers the healing and joy of mountain biking. Analise had never camped or ridden a bike off the pavement when she decided to plan a week-long mountain biking adventure with an all-black female team. Together, they traverse the backcountry on an adventure full of exploration, curiosity, waterfalls, old-growth forest, sparkling starscapes, and deep healing.
Resilience Is In Our Nature is a snapshot of the Portland, Oregon community during the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprising, Resilience Is In Our Nature captures resilience that can be found within us and around us. Whether it’s putting a mask on and enjoying outside, learning how to thrive and grow in quarantine, maintaining balance physically and mentally in nature, or a small business adapting and staying afloat – this film centers the fabric of what makes Oregon’s neighborhoods, cities, and state a special place to live.
The Woman Who Loves Giraffes – In 1956, four years before Jane Goodall ventured into the world of chimpanzees and seven years before Dian Fossey left to work with mountain gorillas, 23-year-old biologist Anne Innis Dagg made an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. In The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, Anne (now 86) retraces her steps and with letters and stunning, original 16mm film footage offers an intimate window into her life as a young woman, juxtaposed with a first-hand look at the devastating reality that giraffes are facing today.
