The 21st annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival continues its artisanal celebration at the Ithaca College campus and downtown Cinemapolis movie theater from April 1 to 7.
This year’s theme titled ‘Disruptions’ and explores the stop-and-flow motions, which produce breaks and fissures; such disruptions may affect preconceived notions and perceptions about political, social and cultural issues from local, regional, national and even global contexts.
Each day, the film festival consists of multiple listed film-screenings, and some even in the presence of the actual directors and producers that are then followed by informational Q&A sessions.
Great and vast in scope, films offered throughout the weeklong celebration of the arts engage with subjects including environmental issues, drugs, guns and global crises, among many other diversified topics.
“We are running 120 events with over 75 guests and speakers,” FLEFF Codirector and Professor of Screen Studies at the Roy H. Park School of Communications Patricia Zimmermann said.
In addition to merely watching films, FLEFF brings in many filmmakers, documentarians and other professionals who have worked on some the displayed projects as well as other honorable special guests for the region’s largest environmental film festival.
With Ithaca College as the event’s major sponsor and other contributions offered by the Park Foundation and Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, the ever-popular event seems slated to serve as yet another sold-out affair.
“Last year, we have more than 7 sold out shows – and they sold out five days before the festival screenings at Cinemapolis,” Zimmermann continued.
In the past, Cinemapolis has quickly filled its theater before the start-date and continues with this trend; as for the on-campus events at Ithaca College, they are free and open to the public.
Those interested may consult www.ithaca.edu/fleff for more information including film-screening schedules and other special events pertaining to this year’s FLEFF.
– Reporting & Photos by Gabriel Pietrorazio
An undergraduate student at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Pietrorazio has written for the Town Times of Watertown, Connecticut and Finger Lakes Times in Geneva, New York. He’s currently an intern reporter for FL1 News, and can be reached at [email protected].
Gabe covered health and indigenous affairs in the Finger Lakes between 2019 and 2022. His award winning coverage was cited by the federal government and provided residents with an invaluable service during the coronavirus pandemic.