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This World Rainforest Day, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the 15th edition of the Films for the Forest competition.
This year, judges received 84 submissions from 30 countries, all centered around the theme of "Water: Fertility & Prosperity.".
Esteemed judges for Films for the Forest 2024 included five-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater, a judge since the inception in 2010; Estonian Academy Award-nominated audiovisual producer, media and technology expert Sten-Kristian Saluveer; American actress and director Caitlin Gerard; and Canadian actor and activist Calum Worthy.
Every film screened, every story shared, plants a seed of awareness that grows into action for healthy, standing forests.
- Oscar-nominated filmmaker, and Films for the Forest judge, Richard Linklater.
Documentary Shorts Winner – Women of the Mangrove
Directed by Astrid Peraza
Costa Rica, Spanish
Women of the Mangrove is the story of the Mudecoop Cooperative. Manzanillo is a small fishing village on Costa Rica's Pacific coast that grapples with poverty and government neglect. In response to this adversity, the women of Manzanillo joined forces to establish the Mudecop cooperative. This documentary aims to showcase the transformative power of projects led by women for their communities. While following the mangrove growth cycle the documentary tells the personal growth story of these women as well. Portraying how working together is so important in order to overcome their hardships, because when we talk about climate change working alone is not an option.
Documentary Shorts Runner-up – Once Upon a Forest
Directed by Mattias Olsson
Sweden, English
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Narrative Shorts Winner – Stolen Thought
Directed by AJ Davies
United Kingdom, English
In the future, deforestation has reached critical levels and every breath now comes at a price. Four activists risk it all to steal back a way of life they are too young to remember.
Narrative Shorts Runner-up Oasis
Directed by Pulkit Verma
United States, English
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Animated Shorts Winner – For You
Directed by Luca Paulli
United Kingdom, Italian
'For You' is a heartfelt letter from a father to his two-year-old son, capturing a summer day in the park, a world filled with wonders yet to be discovered and a looming danger. Set in Peckham, South East London, the director narrates the story in Italian, the language he has spoken to his son since birth. This project is deeply intimate and personal, yet carries a universal and resonating message: what lies ahead might be uncertain, but with love, courage, and imagination, we can create a better future.
Animated Shorts Runner-up – Anthropocene
Directed by Agata Zych
Poland, English, Polish
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Indigenous (IPLC) Films Winner – Gath & K'iyh: Listen to Heal
Directed by Princess Daazhraii Johnson
United States, English
Logline: In Alaska, a community comes together to create music with Yo-Yo Ma as a critical part of collective healing and radical hope for the future.
Synopsis: Gath and K’iyh is a poetic visual exploration of a community-led creative arts project aimed at better understanding and restoring our relationship with gath (king salmon) and k’iyh (birch) relatives as we navigate our feelings around climate change in Alaska. Gath and K’iyh are words from the Benhti Kokhut’ana Kenaga’ (Lower Tanana) dialect spoken in the Interior Region of Alaska. Guided by the voice and wisdom of Ahtna Elder Fred John, this film invites viewers to pause, to listen, to sing and dream together and ask how we might be in better relationship to the natural world around us.
Indigenous (IPLC) Films Runner-up – ENCHUKUNOTO (The Return)
Directed by Laissa Malih
Kenya
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Youth (Under 18 years old) Winner – Little Changes
Directed by Abril Garcia, Marc Jaen, Martina Navarro
Spain, Catalan
Small changes can prevent great catastrophes.
Youth (Under 18 years old) Runner-up – 1 2 3 Red light, Green light
Directed by Liangyu Chen
Taiwan, Chinese
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Original Works Winner – Living Legacies
Jesse Andrew Clark
United States, English
A movement is born when one community’s drinking water source is threatened – and Washington State must weigh economic gain against the protection of their last tracts of mature forests.
Original Works Runner-up – At the edge of the forest
Olivia del Giorgio
Canada/Argentina, Spanish