Announcing the Full Festival & Narrative Change Summit Program Lineup 🎬✨
Panels, workshops, pitches, table reads, and more! See the full public program agenda with 17 free events - RSVP before tickets are gone!
It’s official: the full program is here, and it’s packed. Writers’ rooms, lightning talks, table reads, and happy hours on Saturday and Sunday—plus a full day of Summit sessions on Monday with some of the biggest names in storytelling and climate. That’s 17 free events and one very busy calendar. And not to mention the films!
We’re completely blown away by the talent we have for these programs this year—with reps from major studios, deep thinkers, award-winning filmmakers, and much more.
This year’s festival program is split between the festival weekend (tickets going fast!) and Monday’s Narrative Change Summit.
🎬 Festival Weekend Programs (9/20 - 9/21) focus on filmmaking from script to impact, with panels and workshops on Saturday and Sunday.
✨ The Narrative Change Summit (9/22) highlights collaborations between filmmakers, creatives, NGOs, philanthropies, and companies.
Check out the full lineup below!
PS. Don’t sleep on our Instagram for trailer drops, filmmaker chats, and more!
🎬 Festival Weekend Programs
The climate is changing, but so is filmmaking. In addition to our core screening program (tickets), we’re proud to present a series of public sessions on climate filmmaking in 2025. Whether you’re a film lover with the glimmer of an idea or an industry veteran, we have sessions for you: from scripts [1, 2, 3], production [4, 5], and filmmaking [6] through to distribution [7] and impact [8]. And of course a happy hour to round it out [9]. Check out the full schedule below or on our calendar.
📆 Saturday, September 20
📍 Location: Make / Change Mezzanine at Essex Market, 88 Essex Street
11:00 AM: Start the day with Film Independent at the ✍️ Climate Writer's Room, a creative space for screenwriters, filmmakers, and storytellers—to dig into what it means to shift climate narratives for the better.
11:15 AM: Reaching audiences today requires more than a traditional theatrical run. Go 🎟️ Beyond the Box Office and learn about alternative models of distribution and impact.
12:30 PM: Electrify your production! Meet the local vendors who make it possible with solar basecamps, EVs, and more at ⚡️ Sustainable Production: Lightning Talks, focused on sustainable production in the NY area.
2:00 PM: Hot off the presses - join NRDC’s Rewrite the Future and a lineup of incredible NYC comedians for a 🎭 table read of a new climate comedy pilot, where a kind-hearted alien whose planet was blown up in a freak accident must go undercover as a corporate spy at an oil company to convince humans to stop destroying Earth — and fast.
3:30 PM: The next big thing? Hear new scripted pitches at 📺 Carbon Copy: A Climate Narrative Pitch Competition, and reimagine how we talk about the climate crisis through stories that entertain, resonate, and ignite. Co-hosted with Documentaries Don’t Work.
6:00 PM: Meet filmmakers and make friends at the 🍻 Plant-Based Happy Hour, celebrating sustainable food and community.
📆 Sunday, September 21
📍 Location: Make / Change Mezzanine at Essex Market
11:15 AM: How we think and plan shapes what we build—and what we discard. 🗽 NYC Film Green Office Hours explores circular approaches to sustainable set design and on-set waste management.
12:30 PM: What does it mean to make cinema in the age of climate crisis? At 🎥 CFF In Focus, documentary filmmakers from across the festival line-up share the craft of bringing urgent environmental stories to the screen.
2:00 PM: Climate messengers may struggle to be heard in a media industry with different priorities. 💫 Unpacking Impact: Film & TV Roundtable brings together thought leaders working inside Hollywood who are rising to meet that challenge.
✨ Narrative Change Summit
This year we’re leveling up our presence at Climate Week with the Narrative Change Summit—a bold new bridge between the festival and the broader climate conversation. The Summit brings filmmakers and creatives into direct dialogue with the NGOs, companies, and philanthropies shaping climate action. Together, they’ll showcase innovative projects and chart new ways to reach audiences at scale. Register for individual events here.
📆 Monday, September 22
📍 Location: SVA Theatre, 333 W 23rd Street
9:45 AM: Join the co-founders of CFF for Opening Remarks.
10:00 AM: 🔌 Powering the Narrative: Philanthropy's Role in Climate Media spotlights bold collaborations between philanthropy and media that are reshaping how we tell – and fund – climate stories. Hosted by The Carmack Collective.
11:10 AM: See 👓 Climate Through a New Lens, a conversation about how XR can expand the changemaker’s toolkit—connecting communities, catalyzing action, and sparking imagination for a more just and sustainable future. Presented by Agog.
12:30 PM: 📢 Beyond the Billboard: Brands, Action, and Impact explores how filmmakers can work with brands on authentic, cinematic storytelling that illuminates real solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss.
1:25 PM: Go sailing with ⛴️ Plastic Odyssey, a floating lab that turns plastic waste into local solutions.
2:00 PM: Catch an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes of the new film from the directors of Common Ground at 🌱 Groundbreaking: Regenerative Agriculture Through the Directors' Lens. The documentary features a Nespresso coffee farm in Colombia - showcasing a unique creative collaboration between filmmakers, NGOs, farmers, and brands, and is followed by a coffee tasting.
3:45 PM: 🌅 Better by Design: Solutions On Screen is a two-for-one session, starting with a spotlight on how design and storytelling can scale youth-led solutions from The World Around’s Young Climate Prize award winners. Next, dive deep on how to talk about climate solutions when you can’t say “climate.” Sponsored by SNØCAP and Tidal Vision.
5:00 PM: Close out with 🎬 Films from the Frontlines: Stories that Lead to Climate Action, featuring filmmakers from NAACP’s new Climate in Color initiative and speakers from NAACP, Climate Power, The Solutions Project, and NRDC’s Rewrite the Future.
Thank you to our sponsors and supporters!
Additional support for the festival comes from The Carmack Collective, NRDC (National Resource Defense Council), Universal Pictures, Nespresso, Agog, Watershed, Climate Power, Earth Rising Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, SNØCAP, Tidal Vision, Pique Action, Earthrise Studio, and The Puffin Foundation.
The Guardian is the presenting media sponsor. The festival logo and design come from Studio Rodrigo. Legal services are from Romanette Legal. Earth Angel is the sustainability partner. Ecodeo created the festival trailer. The Everset provided furniture. Edge Auto loaned electrical vehicle services. The marquee theater partner is Regal. Awards are hand-crafted by Fernanda Uribe-Horta. Business development services were provided by ImpactECI.
Food and beverage in-kind partners include Bronx Brewery, Stumptown, Cafe d’Avignon, and Open Water. Screenings and events take place at DGA Theater, Regal Essex Crossing, Essex Market, and SVA Theatre.