Check out the Wild & Scenic Festival Digital Program!
About the Event
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival partners with environmental groups worldwide to screen films and unite a wide audience, sparking action for a sustainable planet. This special program showcases short films that highlight the stunning, essential, and delicate environments we share, introducing our community to the brave individuals dedicated to safeguarding and preserving them for those who will come after us.
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour in Livermore took place on February 27, 2026, at the Bankhead Theater and was a wonderful success! We are deeply grateful to all our sponsors, partners, supporters, volunteers, and guests! Bringing our community together to share our love for nature was one of our main goals, and you made it all possible! Thank you!
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Biography of Panelists
Selected Films
Aldo’s Bug Extravaganza
In "Aldo's Bug Extravaganza," join 5-year-old Aldo and his dad on a backyard safari filled with tiny wonders and big laughs. Armed with a camera and boundless curiosity, Aldo embarks on a bug-hunting escapade, narrating his discoveries with adorable wit and charm. As the week unfolds, Aldo's wide-eyed explorations not only capture the audience's imagination, but also subtly echo the timeless wisdom of Aldo Leopold, making for a delightful and endearing ode to the joy of nature's smallest marvels.
Neil Losin, Aldo Losin
Forests Above & Forests Below
Take a deep dive into California’s unique and irreplaceable underwater kelp forests that have experienced catastrophic loss in the past decade. This piece was written and supported by scientists at The Nature Conservancy and was filmed and produced by the Coldwater Collective.
Sashwa Burrous & Justin Lewis. For more information: https:///www.thecoldwatercollective.com
Freetown: Cooling a City
In Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa's first Chief Heat Officer, Eugenia Kargbo, partners with MEER to tackle rising temperatures using innovative mirror technology to reflect sunlight and cool homes. This groundbreaking initiative has already improved living conditions for residents of Kroo Bay, offering hope for widespread urban heat relief.
Surabhi Tandon
Reforesting California after Wildfire
Large, severe wildfires are reshaping California’s landscape – burning important ecosystems and threatening communities, wildlife, water and recreation. Today, millions of acres need to be reforested. This short film follows efforts underway in the Sierra Nevada, home to the world’s population of giant sequoias, as American Forests, the USDA Forest Service and others race to return healthy forests to the landscape.
Liane ONeill (Director, Producer), Mark Janzen (Director of Photography and Editing), Adrian Lugo (Assistant Photographer)
Nature for All
An extraordinary forest in New Jersey offers sanctuary to a historically hidden community and a secretive endangered plant - but only through the combined work of indigenous leaders and land preservationists.
Adam Nawrot, Sonia Szczesna, Harri Bailey
Tule
Tule is a poetic 2D animated mixed media short film championing awareness and hope. A young Pomo girl serves as the narrator of our project. Her poetic contemplations ring true with convictions shared by her Pomo community at Clear Lake, California. She revels in the local nature’s glory, but dread strikes when she faces today’s careless pollution damage that impedes cultural practices.
Jocelyn Garcia (Director, Writer), Rie Peredo (Producer, Writer), Rachel Huang (Art Director, Writer), Ealaisa Nelken (Core Visual Development Artist, Writer)
Flora, Fauna, Funga
This short film follows mycologist Giuliana Furci’s search for new mushrooms in far southern Chile. She’s joined by biologist and author Merlin Sheldrake and mycologist Toby Kiers. Together, the three scientists illuminate how—through nutrient cycling and the essential relationships they form with plants—fungi underpin every ecosystem on Earth, and outline a strategy for greater fungal inclusion in conservation policy.
Sam Sheline (Director, Producer), Vanessa Serrao (Executive Producer), Kaitlin Yarnall (Executive Producer), Chris Dye (Director of Production), Sarah Joseph (Director of Impact), Maíra Ferranti Corrêa (Production Manager), Juan María Raggio (Director of Photography), Simon Thibaud (Cinematographer), Mateo Barrenengoa (Cinematographer), Rachel Dwiggins (Editor), Nirupa Rao (Illustrator)]
Yuba Salmon Dance
Yuba Salmon Dance, a captivating short film, follows Chinook salmon’s incredible journey to the Yuba River to spawn. The film captures their resilience as they navigate obstacles to reach their birthplace. Through breathtaking drone and underwater footage, we get an intimate look at the spawning grounds. This is their final dance, where they select mates, perform rituals, lay eggs, and milk. After the dance, the salmon die, giving their bodies and nutrients back to the river ecosystem. Salmon are one of the most giving species, providing ocean nutrients to inland environments.
Michael E. Wier
Decades in the Making
Managing a publicly-accessible nature preserve immediately adjacent to an urban region in coastal California presents unique challenges, including invasive species, a complex wildland-urban interface (WUI), damage from decades of cattle grazing, and active oil and gas infrastructure. Follow Ventura Land Trust as it works to open a new hillside preserve to the public, a project decades in the making.
Daniel Hulst (Director), Melissa Baffa (Producer), Jason Hernandez (Videographer, Editor)
Cougar Crossing
Los Angeles is well known for its celebrities, so when the fearless cougar P-22 gained fame for making its home in the midst of the city, he inspired an effort to build the world’s largest wildlife crossing and helped spark a national campaign to support crossings and corridors everywhere.
Geoff Luck (Executive Producer), Sarah Arnoff (Co-Exec Producer), Kitty Hu (Post Producer)
Freya
Feel inspired by 9 years old Freya, who shares how she uses climbing as a practice to lean into discomfort and fear to help her navigate her neurodiversity. The strength she gains through both are applicable and inspirational to us all.
Natasha Brook
Nozawa Story
What can wildlife teach humanity about the natural world? In this Japanese folk tale, a hunter learns a mountain secret from the very bear that he attacks. Filmed on Super 8 in Nagano, Japan and Donner, California this short story features hand-drawn animations and an original synth score.
Zack McCune (Director), Theo Akimaru (Narrator), Larisa McCune (Music)
The Future of Healthcare is Farm Fresh
Working with Chapa De Indian Health, Sierra Harvest is finding new ways to deliver nutrition education. Featuring Food Love Farm Summer Camp campers and local physician Dr. Glenn Gookin, the film poses the question: what if we could change our children's relationship with food?
Val Camp (Producer & Director), Kit Kohler (Producer & Director)
Gardener to Guardian
Amid collapsing biodiversity worldwide, Mary Reynolds of Ireland is building a movement to turn gardeners into guardians of the planet, by returning our own patch of land to nature and restoring hope that individual action can create lasting change.
Produced by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
Climate California Trailer
Climate change demands new solutions and stories. CLIMATE CALIFORNIA, a 10-episode documentary series by NorCal Public Media, explores climate change’s causes, impacts, and solutions through the stories of people who remind us of the world’s beauty and our power.
Charles Loi, Northern California Public Media
