The ClimateCulture Film Festival (CCFF) is a curatorial platform for climate-conscious cinema. We ran three editions under the name Climate Crisis Film Festival, culminating in a large 2021 programme connected to COP26, which reached a viewership of 220k across 143 countries. Since 2022, we have evolved into a distributed festival model, partnering with other film festivals, cultural institutions, and organisations worldwide to bring climate storytelling to broader audiences at 3-5 events each year.
CCFF is dedicated to mobilising meaningful climate action through culture. Rather than treating climate change as a purely environmental issue, we approach it as a systemic, social, economic, and cultural challenge, using film and the arts as catalysts for collective engagement. Our events are designed not only to showcase compelling films and multidisciplinary artworks, but also to link them to concrete pathways to action and changemaking.
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SYSTEMIC LENS
Unlike conservation-focused or awareness-only green festivals, CCFF takes a systemic lens on the climate crisis and an active approach to driving real change. We explore:
• The philosophical and cultural narratives shaping our relationship to growth, progress, nature and each other
• Regenerative futures and climate solutions
• Different ways of seeing and understanding the world, including Indigenous and Global South perspectives
• The lived human experience of living in a changing world
• The social, economic, and political systems driving environmental breakdown
• Questions of justice, power, extraction, and inequality
Each screening is embedded within a wider programme of talks, workshops, exhibitions, multidisciplinary events and collaborative initiatives, developed in partnership with artists, thinkers, and changemaking organisations working across different geographies.
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STUNNING, EYE-OPENING CINEMA
The CCFF prioritises artistically-led works with a strong creative voice. We seek films that move beyond formulaic formats or uninspired advocacy, instead using cinematic form, narrative, and visual experimentation to provoke thought, evoke emotion, and spark reflection.
Our curation celebrates films that are visually striking, conceptually bold, and emotionally resonant — works that linger in the imagination and immerse audiences in the climate crisis and possible futures on a deeply experiential level.
By centring artistic vision, we aim to redefine environmental film as an art form that can be both politically urgent and deeply beautiful.
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FROM SPECTATORSHIP TO AGENCY
Our programmes are explicitly designed to move audiences from passive viewing to active engagement.
Our aim is for audiences to leave not only informed or inspired, but equipped with practical tools, connections, and pathways to enact change. This approach has consistently translated into impact: in previous editions, over 85% of attendees reported feeling more empowered to act after engaging with the festival.
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GLOBAL WORLDVIEWS
The CCFF has a global perspective at heart, centring voices and stories that are too often marginalised in mainstream cultural discourse. This hybrid approach reflects our commitment to building translocal cultural networks — connecting lived experience, knowledge, and action across borders.
We prioritise:
• Films by BIPOC and underrepresented filmmakers
• Voices from the communities most affected by climate breakdown, particularly in the Global South
• Perspectives from non-Western, Global Majority and Indigenous contexts
• Stories from micro-states and smaller nations that receive little international visibility
Our audience is global, and we have run programmes in a wide variety of countries from Mexico and Argentina to Morocco, showcasing films from over 50 countries.
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SUBMISSIONS
ClimateCulture is currently hosting an open call in partnership with MUYUNA - Festival Internacional de Cine Selvático Flotante (Floating Jungle International Film Festival). For the 2026 edition, ClimateCulture joins Muyuna Fest as Guest Curators, presenting the Rainforests of the World programme, which will be showcased through itinerant screenings in Indigenous communities and on a floating stage on the river in Iquitos, deep in the Peruvian Amazon. Submissions for this programme should be made via FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/Muyuna-JungleFilmFloatingFestival.
Filmmakers are also welcome to send work to ClimateCulture for ongoing consideration for future events, programmes, and festivals. Please send your screener to: submissions@climatecrisisff.co.uk. We are interested in a wide range of forms and genres, including documentary, fiction, experimental, and animation, as well as VR, 360°, and interactive projects. Films may be any length from 2 minutes to feature-length.
Please note: we only accept films, not videos. We define film as a work created primarily as an artistic or narrative expression. Videos, social media content, brand and promotional films are not accepted.
