Saving the Planet

Late last year, when programmer Richard Skorman opened submissions for the First U.S. Environmental Film Festival, he admits that he was “fearful we wouldn’t get enough entries.” Now, with 138 films and videos submitted from around the world and a total of 200-250 anticipated, “the problem is selecting the final (50-60) films.”

The nonprofit festival, to be held in Colorado Springs April 27-29, just after the 20th anniversary celebration of Earth Day on April 22, will award cash prizes for films and videos of varied lengths, both animated and live action. Requirement: They must have been filmed after Jan. 1, 1987, with ecological themes or backgrounds.

Skorman noted that “some great animated movies are coming in,” but expressed disappointment about fictional possibilities. He’d hoped to have the “Chinatown” sequel, “Two Jakes,” a mystery revolving around oil rights, but the film’s tentative March 30 release date would preclude that.

Skorman is negotiating for “Mindwalk,” an independent feature that discourses on the state of the world. Otherwise, he has no fictional films lined up that involve environmental issues.

“There’s supposedly a big push in Hollywood to make them,” he said, “but there’s nothing coming out in the next few months that we’re aware of.”