Our Sustainable Future - CSU, Chico

The 2008 Greendance Film Festival was the second annual environmental film festival in Chico, CA.  Last year the film festival was named the Ch*Eco Film Fest, however, the name was changed this year due to a new committee and a new vision for the festival.  The vision included a larger festival with a more regional focus and new mission.  The mission is to “inform and inspire for positive environmental change,” with the intent of exposing audiences to environmental issues through the medium of film and art in order to encourage action. 

The 2008 Greendance Film Festival committee convened over the 2007 summer to begin planning for the event which was held February 28-March 2, 2008.  The event was held at Butte College, on the Chico State campus, specifically in the BMU and Ayres Hall, as well as the Women’s Club, Urban Roost Furniture and Art Gallery, and the El Rey Theater in downtown Chico. 

The Greendance Film Festival fulfills several of the strategic priorities of the university by creating an environment for learning outside of the classroom, using technology as a teaching tool, serving as a connection to Northern California communities, and spreading awareness about issues of sustainability on both a local and global scale. 

Greendance featured informative, inspirational films on a variety of environmental topics. Some of the festival highlights included:

Films at Butte College and CSU, Chico.

The Women’s Club Bioneers Video Series which highlighted speakers from the 2006 and 2007 Bioneers Conferences.

The youth program returned this year with "Animals and their Environment," a workshop hosted by the Northern California Natural History Museum and the Chico State Student Chapter of the National Science Teachers Association. This event featured hands-on activities to educate youngsters about our relationship to the natural world. On Friday, the popular film "Happy Feet" was screened in the BMU followed by an ecological footprint workshop.

Keynote speaker Matt Petersen previewed and discussed "The 11th Hour," the stirring film produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. Matt Peterson is a Chico State alumnus and is the President/CEO of Global Green USA.

Throughout the duration of the film festival, Urban Roost Furniture and Art Gallery showed the work of some 15-20 local artists.

A new generation of filmmakers were given the opportunity to compete in the high school film competition for best public service announcements (PSA) or short film. PSA's and short films that were submitted were shown to the public and the winner in each category was announced. 

New to Greendance this year was the juried film competition of filmmakers' submissions from around the world; award winners included “Crude” and “Kilowatt Ours.”

Greendance Film Fest was hosted by California State University, Chico, and the Chico Sustainability Group to create awareness on sustainability issues and unite the community through education and entertainment.

For more details, please visit http://www.greendancefilmfest.org