Environmental Film Festival 2025
Thu 16 - Thu 23 October
Australia's premier environmental cinema showcase returns, with features, shorts, documentaries, cine-art, talks, community activities and more!
Environment is Everwhere.
Palace Kino, Trocadero Projects, Wildflower Video Bar, Bobbie Peels, Elwood Beach
Experience 23 films over 8 days, including 13 premiere screenings, across 3 venues.
Environmental Film Festival is back, running 16-23 October and celebrating our 15th year by returning to the cinema where we first started, Palace Kino!
Enjoy Australia's premier environmental cinema showcase, with features, shorts, documentaries, cine-art, talks, community activities and more. This year's theme is 'Environment Is Everywhere', exploring ideas of urban living, nature and beyond, with the best eco-cinema from around the world.
Traversing the city, with screenings at Palace Kino, Trocadero Projects and Wildflower Video Bar, the program spans Indigenous stories of power and activism, local reflections on landscape and colonisation, breathtaking tales of the city and living environments, and an inspiring portrait of a musician and her father, with an idea that might just save the planet.
Our program always goes beyond the screen, with impactful talks and opportunities to connect, and this year is no different. With filmmaker panels, receptions and a special community action event, audiences have the opportunity to go further, meet changemakers and keep the conversation going. Plus, at the centre of the fest, we’ll be commemorating our 15th Birthday, with a special Anniversary Party.
In this time of climate crises, reconsider the world around you through a series of incredible films and events, because Environment Is Everywhere.
Presented by | Environmental Films Australia, Monash University and Dr Bronner’s.
Supported by | Hot House Magazine, Trocadero Projects, Palace Kino, Wildflower Video Bar
The program.
All the films.
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Blissonance
2023 | Australia | Experimental
In urban Kaurna country, a young man spending time in nature is slowly swallowed by the industrial world.
A contemplation on the paradox of finding joy in an environment while being complicit in its disruption, shot on 16mm film.
Screening as part of ‘Festival After Dark’.
Thu 23 Oct, 21:00 - 22:00
Wildflower Video BarWorld Premiere
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Busy
2021 | Norway | Experimental
The intricacies of life unfolds through the world of the snail.
A visceral yet beautiful insight into beach snails, with their fleeting, resilient lives held in juxtaposition with a human-made soundscape; a balancing act of connection and solitude, curiosity and constraint, transience and endurance.
Screening as part of ‘People, Place, Planet’ shorts.
Sat 18 Oct, 11:00 - 12:40
Palace KinoVictorian Premiere
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Carrying Wood
2023 | Ireland | Dance
Walking the Western Way in Connemara, Ireland, a woman collects wood. A mesmerising experimental dance film by choreographer and performer Linda Schirmer, reflecting on our connection and dependence upon resources drawn from rural geographies.Screening as part of ‘People, Place, Planet’ shorts.
Sat 18 Oct, 11:00 - 12:40
Palace Kino
Australian Premiere -
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Documerica, Self-Portrait of a Nation on the Brink
2023 | United States, France | Documentary
An evocative documentary telling the story of the Documerica Project, a long-forgotten epic photo survey of the American environment launched in the early 1970s at the height of environmental awareness.
Thu 16 Oct, 18:30 - 21:30
Palace Kino
Premiere -
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Earth in 100 Seconds
2024 | United Kingdom | Documentary
A fast-paced snapshot of the planet, with every second revealing how land is used across the Earth. A blink-and-you’ll-miss it eye opener.
Screening as part of ‘People, Place, Planet’ shorts.
Sat 18 Oct, 11:00 - 12:40
Palace Kino -
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Martha
2024 | Switzerland | Animated Documentary
A 1900s-style animated gem recounting the rapid extermination of one of the world’s most abundant bird species.
With audio testimony by ‘Martha’, the world’s last passenger pigeon, this mockumentary blends charm, humour, horror, and heartbreak. Clever, funny, yet masterfully devastating.
Screening as part of ‘Festival After Dark’.
Thu 23 Oct, 21:00 - 22:00
Wildflower Video Bar
Melbourne Premiere -
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Mauri Moana
2024 | Aotearoa / New Zealand | Documentary
A crisis is silently unfolding on Aotea’s serene shores. An invasive algae species is rapidly spreading, disrupting the delicate marine ecosystem and endangering the island’s ancestral fishing practices.
Māori filmmaker Nathaniel Howe immerses viewers in the ecological and cultural crisis unfolding in Aotearoa, revealing the liminal space between identity and environment.
Screening as part of ‘People, Place, Planet’ shorts.
Sat 18 Oct, 11:00 - 12:40
Palace KinoAustralian Premiere
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METABOLISM
2023 | Australia | Experimental
Enjoy an experiential gallery screening of ‘METABOLISM’, an enigmatic film-essay by award-winning local artist Eugenia Lim.
Filmed around Werribee’s Western Treatment Plant, this breathtaking meditation considers the interdependencies between human and more-than-human bodies and the consumption, colonisation and capitalisation of land.
Fri 17 Oct, 18:45 - 20:15
Trocadero Projects, FootscrayGaza Appeal Fundraiser Screening
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No More History Without Us
2024 | Brazil | Documentary
The Amazon has long been treated as a paradise for outsiders to exploit. But what happens when the people of the Amazon reclaim the telling of their own history?
An eye-opening manifesto documentary by two Amazonian filmmakers who flip the script, challenging centuries of colonial myths and exposing how racism and exploitation have shaped the very history of the Amazon.
Thu 23 Oct, 18:45 - 20:15
Wildflower Video BarAustralian Premiere
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River Revelations
2024 | Canada | Animation
Along the banks of a sacred river in Northern Canada, a dreamlike world unfolds where animals carry the wisdom of the Earth.
Artists and filmmakers Chantal Rousseau and Darcy Tara McDiarmids deliver a captivating celebration and important reminder: the land still speaks and asks us to listen.
Screening prior to ‘Documerica, Self-Portrait of a Nation on the Brink’ as part of the festival’s Opening Night.
Thu 16 Oct, 18:30 - 21:30
Palace Kino -
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Robin Hood Gardens: A brief history
2021 | United Kingdom | Documentary. Film Poem
An experiential walking-point-of-view through the design and decline of East London’s iconic Robin Hood Gardens.
Award winning photographer and filmmaker Joe Gilbert shares a multi-layered, intimate journey, meditating on how people build and inhabit urban environments.
Screening as part of ‘People, Place, Planet’ shorts.
Sat 18 Oct, 11:00 - 12:40
Palace KinoAustralian Premiere
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The Flying Plane
2024 | Italy | Documentary
To make way for the new European Library of Information and Culture, a 100 year old plane tree must be moved 72 meters. This documentary captures its meticulous journey.
A reflection on the delicate balance between human ambition, the persistence of nature, urban ecology, and the ethical responsibilities of city living.
Screening as part of ‘People, Place, Planet’ shorts.
Sat 18 Oct, 11:00 - 12:40
Palace KinoAustralian Premiere
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The Lost Season
2023 | United States | Fiction
Earth is experiencing its final winter. A major streaming company hires all available camera operators to film the final weeks of this soon-to-be-lost season. After realising the environmental exploitation, the camera operators refuse to commodify further climate collapse with their labor.
A magnetic and unique tale on the commodification of ecological tipping points.
Screening as part of ‘Festival After Dark’.
Thu 23 Oct, 21:00 - 22:00
Wildflower Video BarAustralian Premiere
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The People's Tree
2023 | Australia, India | Documentary
Follow Teja and Rohit, two brothers who work as traditional tree trimmers in Nagpur, India, as their livelihood is impacted by tightening environmental legislation.
Reflecting on caste, community, and the tension between ecological protection and human sustenance,Melbourne-based filmmaker Febe De Geest shines a light on who bears the cost of environmental change and how labour, culture, and resilience intersect with a fragile natural world.
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The Residents of 49
2024 | Ireland | Film Poem
As Ceara Carney takes you on a poetic journey through the urban garden of Number 49, the Irish backyard unfolds as a quiet archive of colonial history and a living refuge for nature.
Screening as part of ‘Festival After Dark’.
Thu 23 Oct, 21:00 - 22:00
Wildflower Video BarAustralian Premiere
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These Sacred Hills
2024 | United States | Documentary
Facing an existential threat from a proposed green energy project, the Rock Creek Band of the Yakama Nation fights to protect their sacred sites and cultural resources. In a last-ditch effort to be heard, they open their community and reveal parts of their sacred culture for the first time.
Sat 18 Oct, 13:10 - 14:55
Palace KinoAustralian Premiere
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The World According to My Dad
2023 | Czech Republic, Slovakia | Documentary
What happens when a scientist and an artist team up to save the planet? This funny and tender documentary about Jiří, a Czech physicist who dreams of fixing climate change with a bold idea, is captured by his daughter, as they crash conferences, play protest songs, and share late-night chats
Sat 18 Oct, 16:00 - 17:35
Palace KinoAustralian Premiere
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More films to be announced!
Tickets & passes
Tickets and passes available via Humanitix.
te: 5% of ticket income goes to Pay The Rent, excluding the Gaza Appeal fundraiser.
Palace Kino Opening Night: $36
Palace Kino Saturday sessions: $26
Wildflower Video Bar Sessions: $10
15th Anniversary Party: $30 / $20 (with any other ticket purchase)
Elwood Beach Clean Up: Free entry
Trocadero METABOLISM Gaza Appeal Fundraiser: Pay As You Can
Palace Kino Festival Pass + Party: $114 (Save $20!) *BEST DEAL*
Enjoy the ultimate festival experience, with all four Palace Kino film sessions, including our Opening Night reception, our Saturday series of screening, and our 15 year anniversary celebration on Saturday Night! Note: This pass does not include Trocadero or Wildflower events.
Palace Kino Festival Pass: $99 (Save $15!)
Love the cinema? This is the pass for you! Enjoy the ultimate festival experience, with all four Palace Kino film sessions, including our Opening Night reception. Note: This pass does not include Trocadero, Wildflower or Bobbie Peels events.
Palace Kino Saturday Pass + Party: $85 (Save $13!)
Spend your Saturday with the fest! This pass gives you access to all three Saturday sessions at Palace Kino - including our morning shorts package and two feature films - and our 15th anniversary celebration party at Bobbie Peels. Note: This pass does not include Trocadero or Wildflower events.
Palace Kino Saturday Pass: $68 (Save $10!)
Enjoy a bespoke mini-film festival! This pass gives you access to all three Saturday sessions at Palace Kino - including our morning shorts package and two feature films. Note: This pass does not include Trocadero, Wildflower or Bobbie Peels events.
Wildflower Double Feature Pass: $16 (Save $4!)
One Wildflower screening just isn't enough! Get yourself this Double Feature ticket and join us for the whole evening! Note: This pass does not include Palace Kino or Trocadero events.
Venues.
Palace Kino
Collins Place. 45 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Trocadero Projects
Level 1/40 Leeds St, Footscray VIC 3011
Bobbie Peels
351 Queensberry St, North Melbourne VIC 3051
Wildflower Video Bar
318 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North VIC 3068