Join the 10th anniversary of FoE Croatia Environmental Film Festival!

The activist group of FoE Croatia will celebrate ten years of the organisation of the Environmental Film Festival with a rich program of films and accompanying events. The special focus will lie on a topic of exceptional importance to the movement for environmental justice - ecofeminism.

With the program's events and 20 film titles, from documentaries to feature films, new releases, and classics, the festival will introduce the audience to the (unknown) heroines of the environmental movement and invites on a journey to discover the topic of ecofeminism. Some stories will highlight the global scope of the topic, showing female leadership and strong women from the global South, who represent the most threatened group by the consequences of the climate crisis. Other stories will include great female and queer artists, activists, theorists and educators from the local scene. With a festival dedicated exclusively to the topic of ecofeminism, the visibility of women and gender-variant people in the fields of (environmental) activism, art, film, music and education should be increased. The festival's topic is to expose a system based on human dominance over nature and animals, male over female, and white over other racialised groups. A system that, to survive, reproduces inequalities so profoundly rooted in our understanding of the organisation of the living world that we treat them almost as unquestionable facts. The festival will provide space for reflection in different forms of communities and introduce solutions that do not repeat the same oppressive patterns. 

The festival will be opened by the film Illusion of Abundance, which uncompromisingly introduces the core of ecofeminism, bringing us the stories of three tireless heroines from South America. The rest of the main feature program includes a documentary about one of today's most famous ecofeminists, The Seeds of Vandana Shiva, depicting two decades of her struggle for food sovereignty and environmental justice. The film Dear Children of the Future pays tribute to the young generations through the efforts of three young women who engage in civil disobedience in Uganda, Chile and Hong Kong.

In the Animalism block, along with a selection of short films and a conversation, we will try to raise awareness of the connection between the oppression of women, nature and animals and open up the topic of veganism as a feminist practice.

We traditionally open the program with a dialogue with movements from the neighbourhood. Therefore, after the film Lobau Stays, we will talk with activists from the Austrian climate movement about advanced ways of orgaorganising climate justice and ecofeminism as one of the strategies.

We decided to enrich the 10th-anniversary edition with several film classics! For example, the extraordinary film by director S. Soderbergh, Erin Brokovich, is a true story about the victory of female intuition, persistence and concern for the community over a corporation that accumulates profits at the cost of human lives. There is also the film Beasts of the Southern Wild, a favourite of the audience and critics, which, in addition to winning over 90 awards, was also nominated for four Oscars. This fantastic drama depicts unusually and imaginatively the relationship between a daughter and a father in the fight for survival in a world that is sinking before their eyes.

On the last day of the festival, two programs for younger people are organized! The block Od malih nogu is adapted for elementary school age. The film Kapetanica Nova, shown at last year's Zagreb Film Festival, is recommended for children of all ages, as well as adults! We close the festival with Princess Mononoke (for those a little older), an all-time classic from the Japanese studio Ghibli, which with its impressive animation and wealth of interpretations summarizes the festival’s exploration of the theme of ecofeminism.

In addition to the rich film program, workshops on animation, gender stereotypes and self-defence for women and gender-discriminated persons are organised. The kickoff to the festival will be a musical opening with Aklea Neon and the closing an afterparty in Pločnik consisting of an audiovisual performance by Diego Barronal, a Berlin artist, and female/queer electronic DJs by the local collective Femme Sound that will help us make the jubilee edition of the festival unforgettable!

Detailed program by day and the films' content will soon be included on the festival's official website and the Facebook event.

PROGRAM

Wednesday, 12.4. @ Kinoteka

/ 18:00 - 20:30 /

Opening and performance by Aklee Neon

The Illusion of Abundance (60')

The film is followed by a talk: Introduction to Ecofeminism.

/ 21:00 - 22:30 /

Dear Children of the Future (90')

Thursday, 13.4. @ Kinoteka

/ 18:00 - 19:30 / 

Beasts of the Southern Wild (93')

/ 20:00 - 22:10 /

Erin Brokovich (131')

Friday, 14.4. @ Kinoteka

/ 18:00 - 19:30 /

Victim (12')

Lobau stays (30')

A discussion will follow the film: Blockades from the neighborhood: meet Viennese activists!

/ 20:00 - 21:20 /

The Seeds of Vandana Shiva (82')

Saturday, 15.4.

10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Self-defense workshop for women and gender-marginalized people @ Gundulićeva 12

10 - 13 h - Psychodrama workshop: Pink, blue and other gender stereotypes by Jasna Žmak @  FoE Croatia

2 - 4 p.m. - Workshop for beginners: DIY Animation by Iva Ružić @  FoE Croatia

/ 10:00 - 11:00 @ Kinoteka /

Block of films Od malih nogu (age 6 - 10 years)

Little red, big blue (2') / Chiripajas (2') / Tears of the Ocean (2') / Heat wave (2') / Z project (13') / Green thread (6') / Nangulvi (5')

A conversation with the children follows each short film.

/ 11:30 - 13:00 @ Kinoteka /

Kapetanica Nova, 10+ years (90')

/ 17:00 - 18:30 @ Kinoteka /

Block of films Animalism

Poison (2') / Little Things (5') / Golden (17') / What is natural in nature? (5') / Animal Faces (5')

The films will be followed by a discussion: Veganism as a feminist practice.

/ 19:00 - 21:30 @ Kinoteka /

Closing of the festival

Princess Mononoke (140')

/ 22:00 - 02:00 @ Pločnik /

Afterparty

Submerged paradise audiovisual performance

See the photo gallery from the 9th Environmental Film Festival.

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 The festival is organised as part of the "EcoFem" project and with the financial support of the European Union. The festival's content is the sole responsibility of  FoE Croatia and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.