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. Join us in exploring how 'Environment Is Everywhere', through stories of urban living, nature and beyond, with the best eco-cinema from around the world.

Experience 24 films, including 16 premieres, five talks & panels, three community gatherings and one very special festival party.

Traversing Naarm/Melbourne, with screenings at Palace Kino, Trocadero Projects and Wildflower Video Bar, the program spans Indigenous stories of power and activism, local reflections on landscape, breathtaking tales of the city and living environments, and inspiring intergenerational ideas that might just save the planet.

Go beyond the screen and keep the conversation going at our panels, community morning tea, beach clean up, fundraiser event for the APHEDA Gaza Emergency Appeal, and our 15th anniversary celebration.

In this time of climate crises, reconsider the world around you through a series of incredible films and events, because Environment Is Everywhere.

Environmental Film Festival 2025 is presented by Environmental Films Australia, in association with Monash University and supported by Dr Bronner's.

PROGRAM

Thu 16 Oct
18:30-21:30

Cinema 2, Palace Kino

Opening Night Showcase

Documerica, Self-Portrait of a Nation on the Brink, plus short film River Revelations and panel on Art, Storytelling & Environment

*Australian Premiere*

Fri 17 Oct
18:45-20:15

Trocadero Projects, Footscray

[SOLD OUT] METABOLISM & Water Ecologies

An APHEDA Gaza Appeal Fundraiser screening with three films and an artist talk by Eugenia Lim.

*Includes one Australian Premiere*

Sat 18 Oct
10:30-11:00

Palace Kino Foyer

Festival Morning Tea.

All welcome. Free plant-based hot drink with a ticket to People, Planet & Place

Sat 18 Oct
11:00-12:40

Cinema 6, Palace Kino

People, Place & Planet shorts

Plus filmmaker panel on Environmental Filmmaking in Australia today.

*Includes four Australian Premieres and one Victorian Premiere*

Sat 18 Oct
13:10-15:20

Cinema 6, Palace Kino

These Sacred Hills and EmPowerment shorts

Includes feature film, two Original Power shorts, and a behind-the-scenes update

*Australian Premiere*

Sat 18 Oct
16:00-17:40

Cinema 6, Palace Kino

The World According To My Dad

Screening supported by Climate Choir Melbourne

*Australian Premiere*

Sat 18 Oct
19:00-Late

Bobbie Peels, Nth Melb

15th Anniversary Party - All welcome!

Sun 19 Oct
11:00-13:00

Elwood Beach

Elwood Beach Clean up

With '3184 Beach Patrol'

Thu 23 Oct
18:45-20:15

Wildflower Video Bar, Fitzroy Nth

[SOLD OUT] No More History Without Us

Includes exclusive pre-recorded outro from the filmmakers

*Australian Premiere*

Thu 23 Oct
21:00-22:00

Wildflower Video Bar, Fitzroy Nth

[SOLD OUT] EFF25 After Dark shorts

*Includes one Worldwide Premiere, four Australian Premieres and one Melbourne Premiere*

TICKETS

Note: 5% of ticket income goes to Pay The Rent, excluding the Gaza Appeal fundraiser.

Single Sessions

Opening Night: $36
Palace Kino Saturday sessions: $26
Wildflower Video Bar Sessions: $10
15th Anniversary Party: $30 / $20**
Elwood Beach Clean Up: Free entry
Gaza Appeal Fundraiser: Pay As You Can

*Party tickets just $20 with any other paid ticket purchase. Discount applied at checkout.

Passes (Best Value)

Palace Kino Festival Pass + Party: $114 (Save $20!)
Palace Kino Festival Pass: $99 (Save $15!)
Palace Kino Saturday Pass + Party: $85 (Save $13!)
Palace Kino Saturday Pass: $68 (Save $10!)
Wildflower Double Feature Pass: $16 (Save $4!)

THE FULL FEST BREAKDOWN

The festival launches on Thu 16 Oct at Palace Kino with our Opening Night feature ‘Documerica, Self-Portrait of a Nation on the Brink’ (2023), a unique insight into a long-forgotten 1970s epic photo survey of the American environment, followed by a panel on the confluence of climate, art, photography and media, chaired by ABC star Maree Lowes. Join us afterwards in the Kino Foyer for a champagne reception, meet the filmmakers and festival team and help us toast the fest!

On Fri 17 Oct, join us at Trocadero Projects in Footscray for an experiential gallery screening of ‘METABOLISM’ (2023), a cinematic poem shot along the Wirribi-yaluk (Werribee river), with artist talk from filmmaker Eugenia Lim. This screening is a ‘Pay As You Can’ fundraiser, supporting the APHEDA Gaza Appeal.

Sat 18 Oct offers a day of screenings, starting with a morning shorts session (People, Place, Planet shorts) where you’re encouraged to meet us for a free hot drink and a chat before the screening. In the afternoon, we’re joined by Monash University for a reflection on energy and First Nations justice with ‘These Sacred Hills‘ (2024) and shorts from the Aboriginal action group, Original Power. Finishing the trio of films is the deeply personal and heartwarming ‘The World According To My Dad’ (2023).

That evening, we’re pulling out all the stops for our Anniversary Party at Bobbie Peels in North Melbourne. This soirée will celebrate 15 years of being a fully volunteer-run environmental arts organisation, with music, dancing, activation spaces and plant-based canapés.

On Sun 19 Oct, we’re stepping out of the cinema to connect with Country, through a beach clean at Elwood Beach, in partnership with 3184 Beach Patrol. Join us in turning climate anxiety into climate action, through a relaxed and social litter pick.

We’ll finish the fest on Thu 23 Oct at our regular haunt, Wildflower Video Bar in Fitzroy North, with a double feature session. Starting with the Amazonian manifesto ‘No More History Without Us’ (2024), a clear-eyed and essential essay film denouncing the insidiousness of extractive attitudes. We'll finish out with a festival special edition of our fan-favourite ‘After Dark’ series, an eclectic mix of weird, wonderful and boundary-pushing shorts, exploring ideas of environment and what it means to live in a more-than-human world.

Full program and event information available at environmentalfilms.org.au.

Contact the host of Environmental Film Festival 2025