Recent ACFF Events
March 10 – 12, 2023
2023 AMERICAN CONSERVATION FILM FESTIVAL & EVENTS
November 13, Sunday, 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
CELEBRATION AND CONVERSATION
Celebrating 20 Years at the American Conservation Film Festival
This November, the American Conservation Film Festival celebrates two decades! Join us for food and drink as we commemorate this milestone, and get ready for 2023. Come on down to Alma Bea in Shepherdstown for celebration and conversation. Help us kick off the festival.
Sunday, November 13, 2022 4:30 – 6:30 PM
Hors d’oeuvres & Cash Bar, $25 per person
Alma Bea Restaurant
202 E. Washington Street, Shepherdstown, WV
Alma Bea is a space which offers “a taste of community right here in Shepherdstown based on the flavors and heritage of Appalachia.”
October 6, 2022 • Thursday, 6pm
Best of Fest – Winchester
at the Stimpson Auditorium in Halpin-Harrison Hall
Shenandoah University
1460 University Drive, Winchester, VA 22601
Join the Shenandoah University Environmental Studies Program and College of Arts and Sciences for Movie Night! Featuring three favorite films chosen by environmental studies students from the American Conservation Film Festival’s 2021 official selections.
- Hargila (23 minutes)
- Healing Across the Waters, with special guest Sarah Gulick, filmmaker (32 minutes)
- Saving Juliette (39 minutes. 2022 Short Film Award Winner.)
- Inhabitants: Indigenous Perspectives on Restoring our World (76 minutes)
FREE ADMISSION!
September 9, 2022 • Friday
Pollinator Evening with Doug Tallamy
and a special showing of My Garden of a Thousand Bees
Sponsored by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and presented in partnership with the Garden Stewards/Shepherdstown Public Library and Potomac Valley Audubon Society.
WV Online Screening Nov 12 – 14, 2021
Becoming Cousteau
Adventurer, filmmaker, inventor, author, unlikely celebrity and conservationist: For over four decades, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his explorations under the ocean became synonymous with a love of science and the natural world. As he learned to protect the environment, he brought the whole world with him, sounding alarms more than 50 years ago about the warming seas and our planet’s vulnerability. In BECOMING COUSTEAU, from National Geographic Documentary Films, two-time Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker LIZ GARBUS takes an inside look at Cousteau and his life, his iconic films and inventions, and the experiences that made him the 20th century’s most unique and renowned environmental voice — and the man who inspired generations to protect the Earth.
Available to WV Residents Only
(Must have a WV-based IP Address)
October 27, 2021 • Wednesday, 6pm
Best of Fest – Winchester
at the Stimpson Auditorium in Halpin-Harrison Hall
Shenandoah University
1460 University Drive, Winchester, VA 22601
Join the Shenandoah University Environmental Studies Program and College of Arts and Sciences for Movie Night! Featuring three favorite films chosen by environmental studies students from the American Conservation Film Festival’s 2021 official selections.
- Your Friend, Ranger Doug (17 minutes. 2021 Audience Choice Award Winner.)
- Dear Mother Nature (30 minutes)
- Public Trust (96 minutes. 2021 Green Fire Award Winner.)
FREE ADMISSION!
Film still from Dear Mother Nature, 2021 ACFF Official Selection.
October 23, 2021 • Saturday, 6:30pm
Best of Fest – Frederick
at the Weinberg Center for the Arts
20 West Patrick Street Frederick, MD 21701
Showing three films from the 2021 Festival: Gather, The Mushroom Hunters, and Clorofilia.
$10/adults
$5/students
$5/seniors (65+)
Film still from Gather, 2021 ACFF Official Selection.
August 19, 2021 • Thursday, 7pm
Hidden Rivers of
Southern Appalachia
in partnership with the West Virginia Naturalist Program
Canaan Valley State Park, WV
A visual exploration of the rivers and streams of Southern Appalachia, North America’s most biologically rich waters, this 2021 ACFF official selection follows the work of conservation biologists and explorers throughout the region.
FREE and open to all!
Streaming Starting May 14, 2021
Best of Fest
An online screening in partnership with the JEFFERSON ARTS COUNCIL
Streaming from MAY 14 – 16, 2021.
We are pleased to partner with the Jefferson Arts Council to present two of the most powerful and beautiful films from the 2019 American Conservation Film Festival, as well as our 2021 Audience Choice Award Winner!
- Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
- Wild_Life: Resurrection Island
- Your Friend, Ranger Doug
Streaming Starting Nov 14, 2020
Dark Waters
An online screening in partnership with the WV Sierra Club
Streaming FREE from November 14 – 17.
Live panel discussion with Rob Bilott November 17 at 7pm.
Streaming Starting Nov 6, 2020
ACFF Online Retrospective
17 YEARS / 8 FILMS
Join us for this very special FREE online event!
Enjoy eight of our most popular and compelling films from the last 17 festivals, chosen by a group of long-time festival fans and selection committee members.
These four features and four shorts plus our conversations with Tim DeChristopher, Josh Fox, and Ben Masters will be available online starting on Friday, November 6 at 8pm until Sunday, November 8 at midnight.
Saturday, May 9 through Friday, May 15, 2020
Mother’s Day Care Package
Mighty Women Filmfest: An ACFF-curated selection of 7 films for our archives celebrating women in conservation.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD!
Fantastic Fungi
proceeds support ACFF
2019 ACFF Audience Choice Award Winner Fantastic Fungi is all about our interconnectedness and the common issues that we face as a species. We know that our biggest defense from these viruses is our own sense of wellbeing, our own immunity and the ability to live from a place of health and wellness both individually and collectively.
Click here to either purchase or rent this beautiful film. 40% of the proceeds go to benefit the mission of ACFF as we continue to support the important work of conservation filmmakers.
#ACFFOnline: Starting at Noon on April 16, 2020
Best of Fest
an online screening shown in partnership with Shenandoah University
Featuring Plastic Pollution and the Pristine Arctic, Dead in the Water, Misunderstood: A Brief History of Hemp in the US,
The Beaver Believers, and A Message from the Future with AOC
CANCELED: Tuesday, March 17, 2020 • 7pm – 9pm
Film Screening – DC
co-presenting with the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
Due to concerns related to COVID-19, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital has canceled the March 17 event.
February 8, 2020 • Saturday, 5:30pm – 9pm
Best of Fest – Frederick
Sponsored by The Allemall Foundation.
Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick Street, Frederick, MD 21701.
$13-15/person.
January 9, 2020 Thursday, 6pm – 9pm
The Devil We Know
co-presented with Potomac Riverkeeper Network
Eaton Hotel DC, 1201 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005
$10/person. Space limited!
