A huge environmentally-friendly film festival is about to hit your screens
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15.10.2020

A huge environmentally-friendly film festival is about to hit your screens

'The Boy and the World'
Words by Tom Parker

The Environmental Film Festival Australia returns for its tenth year in 2020.

Times have never been stranger and while the events industry has endured a tough time of it, the beloved Environmental Film Festival Australia (EFFA) is returning for its tenth year in 2020.

Exploring the interactions between science, technology, philosophy and art, the event is truly one-of-a-kind and returns at an important time. Amidst a world dogged by a global pandemic and ongoing environmental concern, EFFA has the power to unite us.

Through their online program – titled Out Of This World in 2020 – EFFA will present a host of fascinating films that excavate the mind and challenge your perceptions and understandings of how the world spins.

We’ve never had a better opportunity to step back and reconsider things. If you’re a bit disillusioned on what to do or where to go, let EFFA help you formulate an understanding.

Some of the highlights of this year’s EFFA program include the Opening Night screening of romantic comedy Poissonsexe (Fishlove) which takes viewers on a journey into the ocean, amidst an jellyfish overpopulation issue. Biologist Daniel is tasked with unravelling the mystery before he meets Lucie, a store clerk who helps him on his pursuit.

The screening will be preceded by a special keynote address from respected astrobiology research scientist, presenter and author Dr Lewis Dartnell who will be unpacking his best-selling novel The Knowledge – a grand thought experiment that reconsiders the fundamentals of our world.

The Australian premiere of Echoes of the Invisible will be screened at EFFA. The film tackles the high speed digital world of today and attempts to slow it down by spotlighting some of the most profound human achievements.

Spaceship Earth will also be shown – a true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined within a self-engineered replica of earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2.

There’s also The Other Side of Mars which explores the intriguing tango between photography and space, and Mars in particular. This one uncovers NASA’s methods in shooting the gloriously serene, yet enigmatic planet.

There are also some one-off events set to take place including Reimagining Landscapes, an open forum which aims to challenge our regular thinking when it comes to the environment. Speakers Professor Tamara Davies, Karlie Noon, Richard Geddes and James Bradley will address topics such as post-apocalyptic survival, Aboriginal astronomy and space technology for climate management and environmental disaster. This event will be presented in partnership with non-profit organisation Bush Heritage Australia.

Another fascinating conversation will be had through The Biospheres and Biosphereans which takes its cues from the united notion of Spaceship Earth. The panel will facilitate ideas for how to reimagine worlds that make up a vision of humanity expanding into the wider universe.

The Environmental Film Festival Australia takes place online from Thursday October 29 to Sunday November 8. Check out the program and grab your tix here.

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