Deadline Extension! PLUS: CFF's Biggest Earth Month Yet

Final call for films + a month in review: 4 cities, 30+ films, countless climate conversations.

Marisa Guerrero, Alec Turnbull, and J. English Cook

May 19, 2026

For everyone waiting on picture lock (or just behind): we’ve extended the CFF open call until Friday, May 22. Submit here.

And in the meantime, read on for a recap of our biggest Earth month yet!

This Earth Month, with events in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and Paris, we pushed our programming and partnerships further than ever to widen our conversations and carry them into new rooms, new cities, and new audiences.

The best films don’t just inform, they also open up collective conversations that linger long after the credits roll, building ecosystems and shaping movements. That’s what’s at the heart of CFF.

In this Newsletter:

🌎 Recapping CFF’s Earth Month Lineup
- 🚂 CFF on the Road in ATL and LA
- 🗽 NYC Film Screenings
- 🇫🇷 CFF at Jeu de Paume, Paris
- 🙌 Volunteer Retreat
🌱 Opportunities & Events

Final Deadline: Submit by May 22

🌎 Recapping CFF’s Earth Month

CFF @ LA Climate Week. Photo Credit: Stevie Gray

🚂 CFF on the Road

In early April, we brought climate storytelling on the road, to events in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Atlanta

In Atlanta, we joined the Super South Summit, the South’s premier sustainability summit. This multi-day program included “Super Shorts: Films from the 2025 Climate Film Festival,” a curated selection of six short films, including works by Delgerzaya Delgerjargal, Eloise Jenninger, Nicholas Mihm, Michael Salama and Gastón Zilberman, Jeff Siebert, and Michael Stewart.

Los Angeles

Our next stop was Los Angeles, where we hosted our first West Coast pop-up as part of LA Climate Week, in partnership with Stranded Astronaut Productions and Earth Calling at Solotech Studios. We showcased seven shorts from CFF ’25 that exemplified the range of climate storytelling, from narrative to documentary to experimental films.

The screening was followed by a panel moderated by Heather Fipps (Hollywood Climate Summit), featuring filmmakers Greer Fawcett (Director, Clean Up Sayu), Tehya Jennett & Maxfield Biggs (Co-Directors, Dreamland), and Zazie Ray-Trapido (Director, The Instability of Clouds), with additional films by Pedro Paulo Araujo, Elham Ehsas, Eloise Jenninger, and Michael Salama and Gastón Zilberman.

🗽 NYC Film Screenings

Back home in New York, we hosted four film screenings throughout April, each followed by panel discussions that brought together filmmakers, advocates, and experts to connect on-screen stories, lived experiences, and ways to take action now.

The Unfixing Screening. Photo credit: Jesse R. Tendler

First up was the sold-out NYC premiere of The Unfixing (2024, dir. Nicole Betancourt), a film that follows one woman’s quest for self-discovery after a surfing accident triggers inexplicable and life-altering symptoms. Multiple post-film Q&As included conversations between the director and moderators Furhana Husani (Waterfront Alliance) and Gianna Lum (Climate Cafe NYC), in partnership with Climate Imaginarium and Women Make Movies. Watch the trailer here.

Read more about the Waterfront Alliance’s community-driven advocacy work. Missed the sold-out screenings of The Unfixing? It’s playing again at New Plaza Cinema on May 31, in partnership with the ReelAbilities Film Festival. Get tickets here.

CFF x WE ACT Solar Solutions Screening. Photo Credit: Jalessa Montaque

Our Solar Solutions program marked our third annual event co-hosted with WE ACT for Environmental Justice. The program featured three short films focused on renewable energy solutions, followed by a panel of clean energy and environmental justice advocates: Cassidy DiPaola (Fossil Free Media), Stephan Roundtree, Jr. (Vote Solar), Jackson Hyland-Lipski (director, The Light Won’t Dim), and Caleb Smith (WE ACT).

Inspired by the fight for renewable solutions? Take action today. Follow @polluterspay on Instagram and check out the petition by Fossil Free Media calling for No Immunity for Big Oil.

Oceania Film Screening. Photo Credit: Julie Thompson

On Earth Day itself, we headed to NYU for a screening of Oceania: Journey to the Center (2024, dir. Natalie Zimmerman), a film that begins on a coral atoll predicted to become uninhabitable by 2030 and follows a mother and her adult son as they strive to maintain their culture and independence after decades of colonizing encounters. The Q&A that followed highlighted the emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of the ecological moment we’re living through, including perspectives from: director Natalie Zimmerman, Jessie Keyt (Associate Arts Professor and Head of Screenwriting, Department of Dramatic Writing, NYU Tisch School of the Arts), and Manohar Patole (Industry Assistant Professor, NYU Tandon’s Center for Urban Science + Progress, CUSP), moderated by Abby Rabinowitz (Associate Director, STEM Writing and Clinical Professor, NYU Tandon School of Engineering). With opening remarks by Jenni Quilter (Executive Director and Assistant Vice Dean of General Education, College of Arts and Science, NYU). Watch the trailer here.

The Plastic Detox Screening. Photo Credit: Jesse R. Tendler

We closed out the month with a screening of The Plastic Detox (2026, dir. Josh Murphy and Louie Psihoyos), a documentary that reveals the hidden dangers of plastic in our homes, exploring what microplastics are doing to our health and how we can take matters into our own hands. The post-screening conversation with climate and public health experts further explored the link between plastic pollution and climate change, featuring insights from: Jasmine McDonald (Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Columbia School of Public Health, featured in the film), Beizhan Yan (Lamont Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University), and Alexandra Zissu (Editorial Manager, Consultant, Moms Clean Air Force), moderated by Sandra Goldmark (Professor of Professional Practice, Faculty of Climate, Columbia Climate School). Learn more about the film (now available on Netflix).

Join the fight against toxic chemicals. Check out the petitions by Moms Clean Air Force to Protect Families From Harmful Toxic Chemicals by safeguarding the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and to Protect Families From the Plastics and Petrochemical Industry.

CFF @ Jeu de Paume. Photo Credit: Léa Rener and Mathis Payet Descombes

🌍 Climate Film Festival at Jeu de Paume, Paris

This month, CFF also crossed the Atlantic for our first continental pop-up, bringing climate cinema to the iconic Jeu de Paume in Paris. Over three days, we screened 18 films across 6 programs—a number of them Paris premieres—and were joined by filmmakers for Q&As and talkbacks. The climate crisis is not only political or scientific, but also cultural, and we’re excited to build new connections with aligned institutions that make the conversation more visible, public, and alive. Read the full recap.

🙌 CFF Core Team Retreat

Finally, we rounded out our 2026 Earth Month programs with a core team retreat at Anew. What began as a small team has now grown into an extraordinary crew of 35 people, and it was such a joy to gather with so many brilliant collaborators beyond the Zoom window. We spent the day brainstorming, reflecting, and dreaming up ways to make the upcoming season of CFF even more ambitious, welcoming, and impactful — and we can’t wait to share what’s ahead soon.

CFF simply would not be possible without the creativity, care, and countless volunteer hours that this community pours into the festival. We’re deeply grateful for every person helping shape what CFF continues to become.

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