The Boulder Environmental / Nature / Outdoors Film Festival is back for another year of enlightening documentaries, inspiring features, thought-provoking conversations and warm camaraderie.
The festival returns to the Dairy Arts Center July 17-20, with four days of events, screenings, panel discussions, receptions and more.
“Festival-goers can expect a wide range of films that will enlighten and entertain them within the environmental / nature / outdoor adventure realm,” says Richard Paradise, the festival’s founder. “All films contain an after-film discussion with filmmakers and special guests from agencies and foundations to add local context to what they have just watched.”
After watching the films and hearing from experts, Paradise hopes attendees might be inspired to take action on local, national or international issues they feel most passionate about—such as by volunteering or donating.
“Perhaps some might believe that we’re just ‘preaching to the choir,’ because the issues expressed in environmental films aren’t new and that the people who attend are already aware and engaged,” he says. “However, it’s been my experience that unless we continue to engage in these topics, we do become desensitized to them and complacent. We need to constantly remind ourselves that we can make small differences and collectively move the needle towards a better balance between our Earth’s resources and the needs for humanity.”
The festival is now in its seventh year. But Paradise says it’s really still emerging from the Covid-19 years. As participation increases, he hopes to extend the programming beyond the festival weekend—possibly organizing quarterly or even monthly events. He’d also like to collaborate with other like-minded organizations to inspire even more engagement and change around the environmental issues.
“We need to preserve and protect our natural world and wildlife,” he says. “If you are active in the outdoors, you are a naturalist, and you also care about environmental issues that impact that natural world—so the festival tries to converge these thoughts together, because they are uniquely intertwined.”
2025 Festival Highlights
The festivities kick off July 17 with “Lost Wolves of Yellowstone,” a film about wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone in 1995. (Before the screening at 7:30, attend the opening night reception at Hilton Garden Inn featuring a buffet, libations and live music by The Atom Collective.)
“The film is a wonderful time-capsule … and a real world example of what can be achieved,” he says.
The documentary also has “great relevance” to Colorado, Paradise says, since wolves were reintroduced here just two years ago. Speakers from the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project will be on-hand to share updates about the effort after the film about that initiative.
Paradise is also looking forward to “Ocean with David Attenborough,” which serves as the closing night film on July 20. The film explores crises like plastic pollution, ocean warming and overfishing—but also ends on a hopeful note.
“Sir Attenborough has a positive message to deliver as to how things can be turned around quickly,” says Paradise. “Throughout the film festival, attendees will be amazed by the scope of our Earth’s natural beauty and solutions being proposed to preserve it on screen.”
Other highlights include:
- “Out There: A National Parks Story,” which follows the filmmaker and a childhood friend on a 10,000-mile road trip to explore the people from all ages, walks of life and cultures who come to the parks seeking tranquility, healing, motivation and connection to the natural world.
- “Her Shark Story,” a feature-length documentary filmed over four years in the Galapagos Islands about a father and daughter who must face the reality of their past so they can reconnect a lost bond and embrace their future.
- “A Life Among Elephants,” which chronicles the life and work of Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton.
Get tickets and explore the full festival program online on the Boulder Environmental / Nature / Outdoors Film Festival website.
