< Back to Genre List
Banner: the 60th Chicago International Film Festival

Genre: Environmental


A small bird with a yellow stripe on its head is handled carefully by a woman in navy blue scrubs.

Broken Flight [short film]

Erika Valenciana, Mitchell Wenkus  |   United States
English  
Architecture, Environmental, Social Commentary

Winding through the maze of downtown Chicago, the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CCCM) work alongside the Field Museum and Willowbrook Wildlife Center to rescue birds that collide with skyscrapers, and study the birds that are killed during their annual migrations. The tenderhearted work presents a lens of environmental change that impacts every urban landscape.

A black cat with yellow eyes sits at the bow of a boat, it looks back curiously.

Flow

Gints Zilbalodis  |   Latvia, France, Belgium
No Dialogue  
Animation, Environmental, Family Friendly

When his home is devastated by a great flood, a courageous cat teams up with an unlikely band of animal friends in this thrilling animated spectacle.

A group of people working around an old wooden house and large wheel.

Harvest

Athina Rachel Tsangari  |   United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, France, United States
English  
Drama, Environmental, Historical

A medieval English village is threatened when a nefarious landowner makes plans for profit-driven agriculture in this breathtaking atmospheric fable.

A Giraffe stares straight at camera thoughtfully.

Life and Other Problems (Livet og andre problemer)

Max Kestner  |   Denmark, United Kingdom, Sweden
Danish, English  
Environmental, Family Affairs, Social Commentary

The killing of a giraffe in a Copenhagen Zoo is the launching pad for this wry, provocative essay film about life, death, biology, and human and animal consciousness.

A woman leans against a tree in the woods. The sun shines orange on her face.

Once Upon a Time in a Forest

Virpi Suutari  |   Finland
Finnish  
Environmental, Women Centered

Young climate activists fight to save the Finnish forest in this beautifully photographed, bittersweet ode to youthful dreams and our natural world.

A hippo peers menacingly through the reeds.

Pepe

Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias  |   Dominican Republic, Namibia, Germany, France
Afrikaans, German, Mbukushu, Spanish  
Environmental, Social Commentary

Relocated from his African home to Pablo Escobar’s Colombian compound, Pepe the hippo reflects on his chaotic life in this inventive cinematic essay.

Three donkeys stand in the middle of road with two white observatory buildings behind them.

Perfectly a Strangeness [short film]

Alison McAlpine  |   Canada, Chile
Shorts  
Environmental, Science Fiction, Western

Three donkeys roam an arid landscape seemingly devoid of humans. As they wander, the possibilities of stories beyond human communication come into focus.

Two feet dangle over the edge of a tipped over row of plane seats in the middle of the jungle

Transamazonia

Pia Marais  |   France, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil
English, Portuguese  
Drama, Environmental, Mystery

A healer and her evangelist father are at the center of a conflict between an indigenous community and illegal loggers in this mystical eco-thriller.

A woman walks in a field in the foreground amidst a vast landscape in the background, where smoke rises from a mountain top.

Vox Humana [short film]

Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan  |   Philippines, United States, Singapore
Tagalog  
Drama, Environmental, Science Fiction

Speculation surrounds a man who lives in the forest. Some believe that he may be the cause of several recent natural disasters. A zoologist arrives to speak to him in hopes of reaching an understanding.