Check Out Past CEFF Films
Explore our collection of the 2018 festival films now available for streaming and click on titles for descriptions. Titles in green indicate films featured in the CEFF 4 Kids screening, and titles with a $ indicate films available to rent.
A Crude Injustice (2018) - $
A Crude Injustice is a documentary on the aftermath of Australia’s biggest offshore oil disaster on the people of West Timor.
Directed by: Jane Hammond
A Living Legacy (2018)
PLAY NOW (12 minutes)
With a purpose to protect the disappearing forests of the country, a couple dedicate a large part of their life towards creating a 300-acre private wildlife sanctuary in the Western Ghats of India.
Directed by: Taira Malaney
A River's Last Chance (2018) - $
RENT NOW (1 hour 7 minutes)
Winner of 2018 CEFF Best Feature Film Award
A story of salmon, timber, weed and wine along California’s mighty Eel River.
Directed by: Shane Anderson
Aghanashini (2018)
This documentary is about a river of the Western Ghats of India, “Aghanashini,” which is a unique river from the perspective that it still flows in its natural course due to absence of any dams to change its flow and it doesn’t have any industries along its path to pollute its water. In that sense, so far it remains untamed and unpolluted by man. There has been no effort till now to document the uniqueness of this river through its entire length. In the time when ‘development’ is the mantra of any government in the country, there exists this silent river which is holding onto its ground and nurturing the land and forest and thus becoming a river of life for hundreds of thousands of people along with its flow. Made over a span of two years, the film covers the story of the river via various stories along its flow, some of which are shot for the first time.
Directed by: Ashwini Kumar Bhat
At War With The Dinosaurs (2018) - $
A solution to fossil fuels that has long been dismissed or ignored, has proven itself to be one of the most effective, an alternative energy produced from the most abundant element in the universe.
Directed by: John Michael Parkan
Beyond Standing Rock (2018) - $
BEYOND STANDING ROCK takes a close-up look at the controversy on the front lines of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The film investigates the collision of energy development and tribal rights/sovereignty. BEYOND STANDING ROCK explores these issues through three different tribal stories: The Dakota Access Pipeline (Standing Rock Sioux), the Southern Ute Tribe energy development, and a coalition of tribes in the Four Corners region, fighting for control over the Bears Ears National Monument. Throughout the film, BEYOND STANDING ROCK takes viewers across the Western United States, with stunning aerial cinematography, and an expansive music soundtrack. BEYOND STANDING ROCK is produced and directed by 7-time, Heartland Emmy-Award winner, Brian Malone in collaboration with the Inside Energy team: Alisa Barba and Leigh Paterson. The film is also narrated by Tony-Nominated actress, Beth Malone.
Directed by: Brian Malone
Blue Ice (2018)
PLAY NOW (6 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
A glacier recedes while young musicians pay homage.
Directed by: John “Johnny B.” Bushell
Changing Oceans (2018)
PLAY NOW (3 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
Short underwater film, inspiring conservation by portraying the diversity of life in the planet’s oceans and the beauty that may be lost if we don’t protect them.
Directed by: Jeff & Katy Foster
Chasing Coral (2018) - $
Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.
Directed by: Jeff Orlowski
Cities Beneath the Sea (2018)
PLAY NOW (9 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
This film was made by Maui students ages 12-18 in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club during the 2016-17 school year. Featuring interviews with local marine experts, this documentary details the rise in coral bleaching in recent years, what this means for local marine ecosystems, and the outlook for coral reefs in Hawai’i and globally in a rapidly changing climate.
Directed by: Malia Cahill
Drokpa (2018)
Set in the high plateau of eastern Tibet, Drokpa is an intimate portrait of an extended nomadic family whose life is on the cusp of irreversible change.
Directed by: Yan Chun Su
Duranium (2018)
PLAY NOW (9 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
Follow Dr. Jon Harvey and his student, River White, as they uncover the secrets of Durango, Colorado’s Dog Park.
Directed by: Stacey Sotosky
Growing Farmers (2018)
This film was made by Maui students ages 12-18 in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club during the 2016-17 school year. In partnership with the Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United’s Farm Apprentice Mentoring program and the Mālamalama Maui project, this documentary explores the need to grow new local farmers in Maui’s post-sugarcane era and looks at some of the regenerative agriculture projects already underway on former sugarcane lands.
By Taylor Redman, Kaimana Idica and Bryce Clearing Sky
Directed by: Malia Cahill
Growing VEGI: Valley Educational Gardens Initiative (2018)
Located in the rural and economically-challenged region of southern Colorado, the Valley Educational Gardens Initiative (VEGI) has blossomed into a multifaceted program over the past 20 years. VEGI works with schools and community programs across the San Luis Valley to address the root causes of hunger and food insecurity by cultivating a relationship with nourishing foods from the soil up! VEGI provides garden and nutrition education for over 1500 youth each year and grows thousands of pounds of fresh produce to benefit the community. Year-round garden production, educational opportunities, and free resources help people raise nutrient-dense foods in their own backyards and communities!
Directed by: Danny Ledonne
It Only Needs Defenders (2018)
To celebrate the Wilderness Workshop’s 50th anniversary and the continuing tradition of conservation, “It Only Needs Defenders,” features wilderness lovers young and old from many walks of life, speaking from the heart about why public lands are critical to their sense of self and essential to the wildlife that inhabit those special places.
Directed by: Greg Poschman
Life on the Gila (2018)
The Gila River in southwestern New Mexico is one of the most dynamic and natural rivers remaining in the United States. The fate of the river’s flows is uncertain as planning progresses for water-development projects. Life on the Gila documents residents’ connections to the river and visions for its future.
Directed by: Jacob Rosdail
Lost Crops (2018)
A doctor in search of undervalued natural resources considered ‘lost crops’ teams up with an experienced botanist and humanitarian for an international journey of discovery.
Directed by: Christopher Jenkins
Melting Away (2018)
PLAY NOW (17 minutes)
Winner of 2018 CEFF Best Youth Film Award
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
Eighteen-year-old Colorado high school student Liam Walton whose passion for skiing drove him to delve into a curiously unaddressed subject on film: with experts he explores the impact of climate-changing on this delicate multi-billion dollar ski industry.
Directed by: Liam Walton
Next-Door Nutrition (2018)
Power of the River (2018)
PLAY NOW (57 minutes)
An adventure from the last Himalayan kingdom. Home to the world’s most ambitious commitment to protect nature, Bhutan faces urgent pressure to dam every river. A man named “Good Karma” guides an expedition to keep his country’s mightiest river free.
Directed by: Greg I. Hamilton
Prescription Strength Convenience (2018)
This film was made by Maui students ages 12-18 in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club during the 2016-17 school year. This parody of a prescription drug commercial pokes fun at the many environmentally unfriendly actions we take on a daily basis in our convenience-addicted society and how they impact our environment and quality of life.
Directed by: Malia Cahill
Protecting Blue Whales & Blue Skies (2018)
In an effort to educate and bring awareness about ship strikes and air pollution, the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in Santa Barbara, California worked in collaboration with Earth Media Lab to film the documentary “Protecting Blue Whales & Blue Skies.” This documentary highlights the importance and significance of the 2016 Vessel Speed Reduction program. This program incentivizes voluntary slowing of ships through our channel in order to reduce ship strikes on whales and reduce air pollution in the surrounding region. The inspiration to create this documentary came from the necessity to spread the word on how shipping is impacting our environment. “Protecting Blue Whales & Blue Skies” is a documentary accessible to the general audience. The film brings awareness and attention to how consumerism affects the environment and who is working to help mitigate this problem. It also showcases how multiple agencies can collaborate to make a difference and protect the marine environment.
Directed by: Michael Hanrahan
Rising Tide (2018)
PLAY NOW (6 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
This film was made by Maui students ages 12-18 in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club during the 2016-17 school year. This whiteboard drawing style animation created by our new west side students outlines the basics of how humans are impacting the global carbon cycle, the impacts of climate change and a call to action for local communities to rise up together in addressing the largest environmental issue of our time.
Directed by: Malia Cahill
Rising Vines (2018)
The future of tropical vines could influence the trajectory of global warming. Tropical vines are becoming more common in the Americas. Nobody knows exactly why. Ecologist Stefan Schnitzer is seeking an answer in a jungle in Panama.
Directed by: Daniel Grossman
Sea Police (2018)
PLAY NOW (3 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
This film was made by Maui students ages 12-18 in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club during the 2016-17 school year. Our new west side filmmaking students share the adventures of the “Sea Police” set to original theme song music as they reprimand careless citizens for their infractions against our marine environment.
Directed by: Malia Cahill
Seabank: Nature's Dividend (2018)
This film explores the wild environment and the fishing communities of southeast Alaska, where the rich and spectacular seacoast is like a natural bank–paying huge dividends in the form of millions of pounds of seafood. Resources from this bank can perpetuate a healthy economy, unique ways of life, and provide high-quality protein for people throughout the world–literally forever–but only if we protect the environment from damage and overuse.
Directed by: Liz McKenzie
Strike Out (2018)
PLAY NOW (5 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
When 6th graders in Utah learned that hundreds of birds are killed by striking airplanes at the Salt Lake City International (SLC) Airport, they were determined to help decrease the number of birds flying near the airport, which is located near wetlands and a migratory bird route. The group met with the airport wildlife staff, including the USDA airport biologist, to examine current methods to keep birds off the airport, including predator calls, robotic bait, and remote trap setting. They learned that one method of scaring birds away is to set up an air dancer‚ a large, brightly-colored tube that flaps when filled with air. However, large commercial air dancers tend to be expensive and require generators that contribute to pollution in the area. In response, they created a small, portable, battery-operated air dancer that is easily placed where birds nest and can run all day on a car battery. Through experimentation, the team determined that it needed at least a 36″ sock to get strong random motion. They tested various fans and air sock materials, as they sought to create a dancer that could be placed under bridges and floated out on ponds. They tested their design at the airport and found that the only day that geese did not gather was the day their air dancer was used. They now have a provisional patent for their design. The air dancer is small so it can be used at any airport in multiple locations, protecting birds from striking airplanes.
Directed by: Abigail Slama-Catron
The Case for Organics (2018)
PLAY NOW (4 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
Advances in biological and horticultural science have given more emphasis on the need to grow and eat organic produce.
Directed by: Dave Bowden
The End of Snow (2018)
A journey into the past, present, and future of snowpack in the west, told through a narrative that follows a climate change scientist on her journey through Colorado and Wyoming.
Directed by: Morgan Heim
The Hundred-Year-Old Whale (2018) - $
Born in an era when whales were on everyone’s menu and her family members were being harpooned, then shot, then captured and put on display, Granny (J2) miraculously survived in the west coast waters for over a century as the world – and the world of whales – has changed completely. We meet the world’s oldest killer whale and explore her past and her family’s future.
Directed by: Mark Leiren-Young
The Road to Renewal (2018)
PLAY NOW (3 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
This is the short story of three friends looking to find their way in the waste management world. As the movie says, ‘Goodbyes are hard. Say goodbye to your waste, let it go to its right place.’
Directed by: Miller Chetwynd
The Salmon Forest (2018)
PLAY NOW (30 minutes)
Winner of 2018 CEFF Best Short Film Award
The Salmon Forest explores the connection between wild salmon and life in the Tongass, America’s largest National Forest. The film follows salmon on their epic migration from the streams of the forest, to the ocean and back, revealing the various lives they impact along the way. Pull in a huge catch with commercial fishermen, explore the breathtaking landscapes that draw in millions, watch as a mother bear lunges into a stream to feed her cubs, visit a native Tlingit community to better understand salmon’s cultural significance, and meet the people who are working day and night to ensure this public resource is protected for generations to come. Filmed in stunning ultra high definition, The Salmon Forest highlights one of the last great wild homes for salmon on earth while provoking a deeper understanding of this complex and beautiful ecosystem. Ultimately the film celebrates the unique role public lands play in salmon production, while reminding us that proper management can support commercial fisheries, subsistence, recreation, and healthy forests.
Directed by: Ben Hamilton
The Shaman and The Scientist (2018) - $
The Shaman and The Scientist is a short exploration of knowledge and scientific discovery, exploring the potential of indigenous plant-based medicine in the Amazon jungle from the perspective Don Juan Tangoa Paima, a shaman who uses native plants and Ayahuasca to heal, and Dr. Dennis McKenna, an American ethnobotanist on a hunt to discover new medicines.
Directed by: Sarah Hutt
The Trees Around You (2018)
Vancouver Island is home to some of the largest areas of old-growth forests on the planet. Old-growth refers to peak ecosystems that have been allowed to age with minimum human impact for thousands of years. These forests are so rich in life and biodiversity that a square meter of soil can hold up to 200 million invertebrates! These enormous trees used to cover most of the continent of North America, but a long history of unsustainable logging and forest mismanagement has caused the old-growth acreage to dwindle closer and closer to extinction. This is the story of these forests and the indigenous people who live among them.
Directed by: Jacob Wise
Tidewater (2018) - $
Hampton Roads, Virginia, relatively unknown nationwide, is the region whose vulnerability to sea level rise most affects our military readiness and overall national security. With 14 installations spread across 17 jurisdictions, it is our highest concentration of military assets in the country, where 1 in 6 residents are associated with our national defense. Their homes, schools, hospitals, and families are struggling to keep up with the effects of rising waters, while the military and all the surrounding municipalities race to forge solutions to strengthen national security and enhance economic prosperity in the face of unprecedented environmental challenges.
Directed by: Roger Sorkin
Triple Divide [Redacted] (2018) - $
A “bombshell” documentary about the impact of fracking with exclusive interviews from oil and gas industry leaders, independent experts and impacted residents. TRIPLE DIVIDE [REDACTED] covers five years (2011 – 2016) of cradle-to-grave investigations by investigative news nonprofit Public Herald that featured how regulators and industry kept water contamination “off the books.” Originally released as a 90-minute feature in 2013, this iteration of TRIPLE DIVIDE is updated with Public Herald’s continued investigations through 2016.
Directed by: Joshua B. Pribanic and Melissa A Troutman
Under the Sea Debris (2018)
PLAY NOW (4 minutes)
Featured in 2018 CEFF 4 Kids Screening
This film was made by Maui students ages 12-18 in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club during the 2016-17 school year. In our first international collaboration with Bahamas Plastic Movement and Space 2 Create, students from Maui and the Bahamas share their musical remake of the Little Mermaid’s Under the Sea about the growing problem of plastic pollution in all our world’s oceans.
Directed by: Malia Cahill
Voices of the Inside Passage (2018)
There is a silent war brewing between British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. It is a modern day battle of industry vs. environment with larger stakes than ever before. In one corner, British Columbia’s 9 billion dollars a year mining industry, and in the other corner, Southeast Alaska’s fishing industry, which supplies over 1/6 of the United States seafood. Voices of the Inside Passage will provide a broad look at the web of issues and players involved in the transboundary mining issue between Alaska and British Columbia and the potential collapse of an already tenuous relationship.
Directed by: Byron Goggin
Voices Not Heard: The Climate Fight of Malaysian Youth (2018)
As climate change begins to wreak havoc, especially on the world’s developing nations, a 23-year-old Malaysian activist travels to Paris to represent young people from countries like his at the COP21 climate negotiations. His journey to discover his role as an activist on a global stage, to speak up for the underrepresented Global South, and to continue fighting now in the face of U.S. President Trump’s abandonment of the Paris Agreement, provides insight into the world of international climate negotiations and activism that is rarely reported to the public.
Directed by: Scott Brown
Water (2018)
Spectacular imagery of our planet’s limited resources.
Directed by: Mark Knight
Zero Waste (2018)
PLAY NOW (8 minutes)
This film was made by Maui students ages 12-18 in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club during the 2016-17 school year. This documentary film funded by the Maui County Office of Economic Development tells the story of how our newest Huliau Zero Waste Event program began, our progress in the first year and how it is already changing the way we look at waste disposal at some of Maui’s most popular community events.
Directed by: Malia Cahill