More than 22 films, ranging from 3 minutes to feature length were shown on topics as varied as natural gas drilling on the Western Slope and coral reefs during the third annual Colorado Environmental Film Festival.
The three-day event concluded Oct. 5 at the American Mountaineering Center in downtown Golden.
“We realized that there really is a power of film to explain some of these complex issues in a different way,” said Ali Sweeney, the director of the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, the Golden-based group that produces the event.
“Most of (the films) do address an issue in some way, but they are often just a beginning of the issue,” Sweeney said.
The Alliance sponsors an environmental expo at the American Mountaineering Center that runs concurrently with the film festival so people can obtain more information about issues featured in the films.
Sweeney said many of the films present uplifting solutions to environmental issues.
Last year nearly 600 people came to the film screenings and environmental information expo.
The filmmaker forum, where directors and producers discussed some of the films screened at the festival, was also a popular event during the weekend.
Sweeney said the film festival helps her organization reach out to an entirely different audience.
Environmental education doesn’t stop at the classroom, according to Sweeney, but continues in the corporate and legislative worlds as well.
“It’s a lifelong process,” she said.
The Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education primarily works as a support system for professionals already involved with environmental education issues.