Living in the Future's Past

http://philaenvirofilmfest.org/

Our mission is to bring the planet to Philadelphia through the power of environmental films.

We showcase thought-provoking, exceptional new shorts and features that entertain, inform, and inspire personal action. In addition to the film lineup, the Festival includes an exciting Opening Night Red Carpet Gala, a juried competition, awards, and opportunities to meet the filmmakers.

Our jury is comprised of 12 individuals spanning the global arts and environmental communities. They spend countless hours screening and deliberating hundreds of submissions from all over the world to decide official selections. The jury also selects the award-winning films (other than the audience favorite “People’s Choice” Award). We’re grateful to our jurors who offer their vast expertise and valuable time to honor this process.

Jury Members

Head Juror, Alexandra Drobac Diagne, is the Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival.  An Art History degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and curatorial experience at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, led to 15 years in the Los Angeles film industry where she worked on the feature A Time of Destiny and produced the documentary Sistuhs. She helped James Cameron launch Lightstorm Entertainment and worked on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Abyss, and research on Titanic and Avatar.  She was Director of International Multimedia Production for Pantheon Studios and currently serves as a judge for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office’s annual “Set in Philadelphia” screenwriting competition.

Kathy Anderson serves as the Festival’s Program Manager. Kathy is a filmmaker and writer who worked in the film industry in Los Angeles for more than 20 years. Her screenplay, Ruby City, won “Best Screenplay” at the Santa Clarita Valley International Film Festival; her short documentary, Witness to a Miracle (2016) was screened at the Reel Recovery Film Festival in New York and Los Angeles and the Malibu Film Society. She worked as a film screening manager for numerous Academy Award Campaigns for Miramax Films, the Weinstein Company, Disney and Lions Gate, working on such films asThe English Patient, Chicago, Gangs of New York, Cold Mountain, Fahrenheit 911, Frida, The Great Debaters and Shakespeare in Love.

Lenny Bazemore is a visual artist, enterpreneur, real estate developer and philanthropist.  With a Fine Arts degree, he was an art consultant for a Philadelphia gallery and the YMCA Youth and Development Corporation in Washington, DC, and now currently owns The Bazemore Gallery in Manayunk.  Lenny is a successful real estate developer with projects throughout Manayunk and the region and has created many local jobs.  An avid world traveler, he integrates his inspirations to create synergy in his art and design projects.  Lenny has gifted houses to Habitat for Humanity and is an advocate for community hope and economic development.

Rosa Esquenazi-Broid holds a degree in Graphic Design from Universidad Ibearoamericana in Mexico City and a Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Tyler School of Art. For the past 4 decades, she has been deeply involved in the arts in various capacities. She strongly believes in building, growing and understanding communities through art education, creation and sharing.

Katherine Butler graduated from Harvard with a degree in Fine Arts and has a Certificate in Cinematography from the American Film Institute.  Kate spent 25 years working on feature films with Mira Nair, Jim Jarmush, David Lynch, Tyler Perry, Stephen Frears and Quentin Tarantino.  She currently works for a local landscape design firm specializing in ecological restoration and films their projects as well as affiliate events.

Alex Geisinger and Jane Scarpellino are reviewing as a team. Alex is a public-interest environmental lawyer and law professor at the Kline School of Law at Drexel University.  His practice and scholarship focus on issues of environmental injustice. Before becoming a lawyer Alex worked as an art historian at a variety of institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Jane is an education lawyer, amateur birdwatcher, Board of Education member and literacy advocate. Together the two have written on social construction of the concept of nature and how it effects peoples’ willingness to protect the environment.

Darcie Goldberg is a professional photographer with over 40 years of experience and holds a Masters in the Creative Arts from Hahnemann University. She was the Executive Director of the Chester County Art Association for 18 years. She believes that the arts will tell our story for generations to come.

Emanuelle A. Kihm left Switzerland for studies in England and has graduate degrees in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the New School for Social Research in New York, as well as in Art Education from Florida State University. After living in Rome, she was the Founding and Executive Director of The Open Classroom Collaborative, a non-profit Arts in Education organization that focused on affirming multicultural perspectives in the arts within the New York City Public School System.  She believes the environmental challenges that confront us today must be solved locally, along with an international perspective and concern for the well-being of the entire planet.

Julie Ulrich serves as the Director of Urban Conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Philadelphia, overseeing a new initiative that researches, designs, and implements nature-based solutions for cities. She has extensive experience in sustainable planning and design and has worked at the intersection of urbanism, ecology and the public for over 15 years.

Claudia Vesterby holds a Master’s Degree in Art History and German Literature from the Technical University of Berlin.  She worked many years as an Editor for “DIBt Mitteilungen,” a prestigious magazine of the German Institute for Architecture.  She currently works as a language instructor for the German Society of Pennsylvania, the oldest German institution in America.  She is a cinephile, lover of the arts and believes strongly in advocating for the Earth with making conscious decisions.

Brian Wade has three degrees in Science and Engineering and has been an amateur wildlife photographer for 25 years. Since 2000, he has been coordinator of “Set in Philadelphia’ – the Greater Philadelphia Film Office’s annual screenplay competition and has moderated industry panels, taught screenwriting at the University of the Arts and has served on juries for competitions and film festivals. He does not believe in climate silence and is a strong advocate of the environment.

PHEFF Save the Date Trailer from Mangrove Media on Vimeo.