Image: Iván D'onadío & Gustavo Valdivia, In Every Leaf of the Forest (still)
Online Climate Film Festival
Films of Return emerges as a continuation of Points of Return, an exhibition by A La Luz, which “acted as a counter-narrative for the often suggested point of no return from climate change and emphasised that solutions remain within sight … The show provided commentary, reflection, and creative therapeutic strategies.” — Vaishnavi Patil, Harvard University, Water Stories
Just as Points of Return invited reflection on our relationship with the planet, this initiative extends that dialogue – offering new perspectives, voices, and ways of engaging with the climate crisis through film and moving image.
19.9.25 — 23.11.25
Joseph Paul Alvarado
Sarah Bachinger
Ipshita Bhattacharyya
Collin Bradford
Anthony Carr
David Cass
Damien Cattinari
Adam Chitayat
Joshua Ashish Dawson
James DeLisio
Nicole Dextras
Sean Allen Fisher
Felipe De Ávila Franco
Tessa Garland
Bia Gayotto
Alexander Girav
Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar
Emilia Haar
Tom Hansell
Aletta Elizabeth Harrison
Louis Heilbronn
Jessica Houston
Israel Hope Irby
Bethany Johnson
Nick Jordan
Amy Kaczur
Nathan Kensinger
Mats Landström
Michaela Lind
Nora Jane Long
Juan López López
Colin Lyons
Tim Laing, Alastair Mackie & Fleur Mackie
Camille Martel
Luke Myers
Amirmahdi Kalantari & Abraham Paul Velázquez Navarro
Kian Peng Ong
Miguel García Orive
Elizabeth Ogilvie & Robert Page
Lau Persijn
Planetary Intimacies
Katie Pustizzi
Marina Rees
Francisco José Vaquero Robustillo
Mike Marshall & Keri Rosebraugh
Kathleen Rugh
Mars Saude
Adam Sébire
Ulrika Sparre
Anne-Katrin Spiess
Heather Bird Harris, Monica Ordóñez & Bryan Tarnowski
Eluned Zoe Aiano & Alesandra Tatić
Iván D'onadío & Gustavo Valdivia
Nelson Varas-Díaz
Takuya Watanabe
Marcelina Maria Wellmer
Sebastian Wiedemann
Erin Woodbrey
Virginia Woods-Jack
“Films of Return delves into critical questions around the climate crisis, sparking fresh perspectives and fostering a deeper understanding of the ways it intersects with human lives and ecosystems. As the world faces accelerating changes – rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns, biodiversity loss, and social inequality – this online festival aims to amplify voices that address these interconnected struggles and reflect on possible pathways toward resilience and restoration.
Films of Return is also a celebration of our place within the vast, intertwined fabric of life. It challenges the notion of nature as “other,” inviting filmmakers and audiences alike to consider the profound ways we are shaped by the world around us. Through this shared lens, the festival becomes a space to explore the beauty, complexity, and urgency of living in harmony with all that sustains us.”
Ulrika Sparre, Ear to the Ground (Golden Monolith & Black Monolith), 2024, 10:21 min | Photography: Fredrik Sweger | Courtesy of Filmform
About the Organisers
A La Luz – meaning “to bring to light” – is an artist-led platform founded by environmental artists David Cass and Gonzaga Gómez-Cortázar Romero, with coordination support from Ivana Larrosa. We showcase environmentally engaged artistic practices across disciplines, grounded in the belief that art can illuminate the urgent, layered realities of our ecological moment. We believe that environmental art holds the power to express complex ideas, offering space for reflection, resistance, grief, connection, and hope in the face of planetary crisis. Through creativity, we explore not only what is being lost, but what might still be possible.
A La Luz is the organizing body behind Points of Return – a project that began as an online exhibition and later evolved into a physical show, gathering artists whose work speaks to environmental tipping points and potential paths forward. Building on this foundation, Films of Return extends the project into the realm of moving image. Our platform is rooted in collaboration, curiosity, and attention. We share work across forms – visual art, performance, sound, text, architecture, and more – highlighting practices that reflect not only on environmental themes but also on the impact of how we create and share.
Alongside exhibitions and screenings, we host events and publish resources for and from artists, writers, and thinkers. At every step, we ask what it means to make art in a time of climate crisis – and how we can do so with care, integrity, and collective purpose.
About the Jury
Javier Bardón, Project and Festivals Director at La Fábrica
Brian Brooks, VP Documentary Projects at Cinetic Media
Cristina Ezquerra, Programing Assistant at Zinebi
Alicia García González, Art Historian, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Begoña Izquierdo, Biologist & Climate Activist
Rattanamol Singh Johal, Art Historian, Curator & Professor, University of Michigan
Stephanie Marlin-Curiel, Executive Director, The Somerville Museum
Miranda Massie, Director, The Climate Museum
Susannah Sayler & Edward Morris, Artists, Guggenheim Fellows, Founders of The Canary Project
Rosa Parma, Curator & Artist
Emily Strong, Documentary Filmmaker
Marcos Urquijo, Selection Committee at Zinebi