celebrate earth day
Join us for 5 free virtual watch parties from any location globally or in person at 10 venues locally.
Plus, a Chicago Park Clean Up and Earth Day Action Fair. Sign up for any or all free events today.
One Earth—City of Chicago
Earth Day Mini Film Fest
April 19 to 23, 2023
Hosted by One Earth Film Festival and the City of Chicago Office of Climate and Environmental Equity.
Join us for more powerful films and discussions in a weeklong celebration of Earth Day. Watch topnotch films and participate in engaging conversations that will help you understand topical issues and move toward concrete actions to mitigate climate change, address environmental justice and more. Or if you are ready to take action, join us for a clean-up at Columbus Park, an Action Fair at the Chicago Cultural Center, and/or a Community Bike Ride to one of our screenings.
For tickets, click film images below.
Unless ticket price is indicated, tickets are free, with a suggested $8 donation. This schedule is subject to change. Events to be added. Check back soon to discover new top enviro films and discussions.
Trip Jennings/2022/101 min/Climate Change, Conservation, Health & Environment
Wednesday, April 19, 6:30 p.m. CDT
In Person, Thatcher Woods Pavilion,
River Forest, IL [W Suburbs]
Wednesday, April 19, 6:30 p.m. CDT
In Person, Gorton Center
Lake Forest, IL [Lake County]
$10 Admission, $5 Students
Wednesday, April 19, 6:30 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Filmed across the West and narrated by Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actor David Oyelowo, “Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. The film follows the harrowing escape from Paradise, California as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire's start. It then continues to the even more recent fires of the last two years, when Oregon, California and Colorado suffered their worst wildfires in recorded history.
Thursday, April 20, 6:30 p.m. CDT [Central]
In Person, Old St. Pat's Church, Chicago
Thursday, April 20, 6:30 p.m. CDT [Central]
In Person, UIC Lecture Center F, Chicago
Thursday, April 20, 6:30 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD
Shirah Dedman/2019/60 min/People & Culture, Food & Agriculture
MIDWEST PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “Follow the Drinking Gourd” is a feature documentary about the Black food justice movement. Family-friendly, funny and moving, this film connects the legacy of slavery, capitalism and climate change to our fight for food security.
REMOTHERING THE LAND
Mark Decena/2022/10 min/People & Culures, Food & Agriculture
MIDWEST PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: This short film, a co-production with Patagonia Films, highlights traditional Indigenous farming practices as a source of resiliency for local communities, as well as solutions for the larger issues facing our Mother Earth.
Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman/2020/85 min/Water, Conservation
Friday, April 21, 6:30 p.m. [North]
In Person, Truman College, Chicago
Friday, April 21, 6:30 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: Produced in-part by award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo, “Invisible Hand: Rights of Nature Documentary” takes you behind the curtain of the global economy where ‘Rights of Nature’ becomes “capitalism’s one true opponent.”
People in Toledo, Ohio, vote to grant Lake Erie the right to exist while others in Grant Township, Pennsylvania, protect groundwater from industrial waste. They, along with Defend Oh:yo’ and Standing Rock, are joined in an international fight to protect more than just water. They fight for their community, democracy, and for Nature as a living entity unto itself. In the end, "Who will speak for Nature?"
EARTH DAY
Saturday, April 22, 9 a.m. CDT [West]
In Person, Columbus Park, Chicago
Sign up and join BUILD Chicago, Openlands, One Earth Collective, Field Museum, Friends of the Parks, Interfaith Green Network, Oak Park Climate Action Network, Seven Generations Ahead, and many other partners in an Earth Day clean-up of Harrison St and Columbus Park (near the Field House on Central Ave)!
Location: Meet at pavilion/shelter house north of Columbus Park Field House on Central Ave, Chicago.
Schedule on Saturday, April 22, 2023:
9:00 a.m. sign in at the shelter/pavilion
9:00-11:30 a.m. trash clean-up, garden prep & mulching
11:30-12:30 p.m. reflection & lunch
EARTH DAY
Saturday, April 22, 12:30 p.m. CDT [Central]
In Person, Chicago Cultural Center
2nd Floor Rotunda
Celebrate the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day by taking action for our planet! Join One Earth Film Festival, the City of Chicago's Office of Climate & Environmental Equity, and partners working on environmental and climate justice initiatives. Visit with groups to learn about and plug into their work, opportunities, and events. Enjoy refreshments and fellowship with other environmental advocates.
Then join a special Earth Day watch party of the award-winning film, "Biocentrics" (and dialogue with activists) from 2 to 4:30 p.m. in the Cultural Center's adjacent Claudia Cassidy Theater. These events are free and open to the public. Space is limited and reservations are highly encouraged. Reserve your spot now.
Fernanda Heinz Figueiredo, Ataliba Benaim/2022/107 min/Built Environment, Conservation, Climate Change
EARTH DAY
Saturday, April 22, 2 p.m. CDT [Central]
In Person, Chicago Cultural Center
Saturday, April 22, 2 p.m. CDT [Lake Cnty]
In Person, Wayfarer Theaters
Highland Park, $10 Admission, $8 Seniors
Saturday, April 22, 2 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
U.S. PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: How would you reinvent some part of your world using nature as a model? In “Biocentrics”, this and other provocations are answered by the eyes and voice of biologist Janine Benyus. Traveling to different corners of the planet, the film reveals the birth and principles that guide biomimicry, a transdisciplinary methodology of technological innovation inspired by a master with 3.8 billion years of experience.
Teens and young adults encouraged to attend.
Jennifer Boyd/2022/52 min/Built Environment, Transportation
Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m. CDT [West]
In Person, Chicago Public Library,
Humboldt Park Branch, Chicago
Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m. CDT [West]
In Person, Chicago Public Library,
Austin Branch, Chicago
Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m. CDT [South]
In Person, Big Marsh Bike Park, Chicago
Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m. CDT
Virtual Watch Party
CHICAGO-AREA PREMIERE. FILM DESCRIPTION: “The Street Project” is the story about humanity’s relationship to the streets and the global citizen-led fight to make communities safer. Digging deep into the root causes of traffic violence, the filmmakers engage a diverse array of experts including street historian Peter Norton, city planner Jeff Speck, and urban design expert Mikael Colville-Andersen. These expert interviews are interwoven with the stories of real people working to make their communities safer.