Please note that we are currently accepting films completed on or after January 1, 2024 for consideration for our 2025 festival season, which will feature in-person screenings at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon from March through June of 2025.
Currently in its eleventh year, The Portland EcoFilm Festival is the premier environmental film festival in the US Pacific Northwest, showcasing some of the world’s best new films about nature and ecology, environmental justice, frontline communities, conservation, and outdoor pursuits. Our mission is to utilize the art of cinema to create a more inspired, active, empowered, diverse, and connected community of environmental advocates.
We support filmmakers by building support for their films as they are being released into public view, and to connect our audiences to films that inspire environmental advocacy and appreciation. Our festival connects films with supportive audiences, conservation organizations and environmental advocates.
We pay honoraria to filmmakers and cash prizes to award winners based on ticket sales for the season in which their films are featured.
Hosted in the US’s greenest city, Portland, Oregon, our festival is supported by the kinds of people and organizations who are interested in your film! The festival is a program of the Hollywood Theatre, a restored 1926 film art-house movie palace featuring state-of-the-art projection and sound. Our theater regularly wins local awards as Portland's favorite film venue.
During the summer of 2021, the Portland EcoFilm Festival turned to a festival season model. This means that instead of a concentrated festival for several days every year, we screen films in person at the Hollywood Theatre for several months every year. This helps to expose a wider audience to our official selections of global ecological films.
Our festival season includes many of the things you might expect to find at a concentrated film festival, such as Q&A's, community conversations, workshops, performances, and celebrations. This allows for our festival to be more thoroughly integrated into the programming of the Hollywood Theatre (a renowned cultural institution) and to invite viewers who might not feel compelled to attend a condensed ecological/environmental film festival.
Submissions made through this site from July 1-December 1, 2023 are being considered for in-person screenings during our 2024 festival season, which will run from March through June, 2024. We will begin accepting submissions to our 2025 festival (films completed AFTER December 1, 2023) on March 1, 2023.
Waivers and discounts are granted based on scheduling needs, jury capacity, and budgetary requirements.
BIPOC filmmakers are encouraged to contact us for a discounted entry fee.
BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Pronounced “bye-pock,” this is a term specific to the United States, intended to center the experiences of Black and Indigenous groups and demonstrate solidarity between communities of color.
The term “BIPOC” is more descriptive than people of color or POC. It acknowledges that people of color face varying types of discrimination and prejudice. Additionally, it emphasizes that systemic racism continues to oppress, invalidate, and deeply affect the lives of Black and Indigenous people in ways other people of color may not necessarily experience. Lastly and significantly, Black and Indigenous individuals and communities still bear the impact of slavery and genocide.
BIPOC aims to bring to center stage the specific violence, cultural erasure, and discrimination experienced by Black and Indigenous people. It reinforces the fact that not all people of color have the same experience, particularly when it comes to legislation and systemic oppression.
Our festival was created by filmmakers – so we understand the importance of your film's festival release - and want to help you get the biggest audience and impact possible.
1. Building support for your film: Where scheduling allows, we pair films with local community partners, conservation groups and advocates to help publicize your screenings and increase attendance and outreach.
2. Connecting to your audience: post-film Q & A sessions and panels help you connect with audiences and promote your film's goals. Our post-film panels regularly feature filmmakers, local conservation organizations, activists and experts to further discuss your film and engage your audience. We provide tabling space in our theater lobby, so you can promote your film's campaign, sell copies/raise distribution funds for your film, and add interested people to your email list.
3. Supporting films featuring environmental advocacy campaigns: If an advocacy campaign is part of your film’s goals, we offer ways to help you reach your goals through our social media, during our screenings and by connecting you to groups and community members who can help your campaign gain traction before and after your screening date.
4. ALL films accepted into the festival are considered "in competition" and eligible for awards! (See "Awards & Prizes" section.)
5. Connecting your film to media coverage: We aim to bring media coverage not just to our festival, but also to a number of the films we feature in our prime festival screening slots. Films at our fest have received media coverage from numerous local publications and national publications including MovieMaker Magazine and Indiewire.
6. We support your film's distribution after your festival screening date with us has passed! We love using the reach of our social media to let the public know when your film is available for online viewing, or receives a nationwide theatrical run.
7. While we do not pay screening films per se, we pay honoraria to all filmmakers whose films are selected for our festival. Amounts depend on several variables including ticket sales and length of film. Honoraria are paid at the end of each festival season.
ALL films accepted into the festival are considered "in competition" and eligible for awards! Based on submissions, awards may include:
-Best Feature Film Award - chosen from film submissions in the feature film category
-Visionary Film Award - chosen from all all film submission categories. This award honors an outstanding cinematic creation.
-Best Short Film Award - chosen from film submissions in the short film category
-Best Conservation Film, Branded Content Award - chosen from film submissions in the Conservation Film, Branded Content category
-Best Youth-made Film Award - chosen from film submissions in Youth-Made category
-EcoHero Award - given to a filmmaker or film subject who has made a valuable contribution to the environment. All films submitted to the festival are eligible for our EcoHero Award.
Submissions made through this site between July 1 and December 1, 2023 are in consideration for inclusion in our 2024 festival season, which will feature theatrical screenings from March through June, 2024.