As part of our Earth Week 2024 programming, CFF is excited to collaborate with WE ACT for Environmental Justice to screen Cooked: Survival by Zip Code (2020, dir. Judith Helfand) on April 26th at the Maysles Documentary Center. Cooked is a documentary about one of the deadliest heatwaves in U.S history, which took place in Chicago during the summer of 1995. Over the span of just one week, 739 people died from the effects of extreme heat. But what’s even more striking about this figure is that the majority of the people who lost their lives were poor, elderly, and African American.

Sam Esmail’s slow-burning thriller, Leave the World Behind (2023), follows the Sandford family on a vacation out of the city to a hamlet in Long Island. After they settle into their vacation home, the unexpected arrival of strangers, the loss of internet connections, and other odd occurrences create an ominous environment that forces them to piece together what appears to be a mysterious, large-scale event and face their own prejudices.

In an industry dominated by traditional norms, Nova West is a beacon of creativity and inclusion. As a National Geographic Explorer, Video Engineer for the EV Nautilus, and wildlife filmmaker specializing in expedition and underwater cinematography, Nova’s journey is as fascinating as the depths they explore.

The Spotlight series takes a fresh look at works of climate cinema. Sitting at the intersection of cli-fi and Africanfuturism, Pumzi is an imaginative 2009 Kenyan short film directed by Wanuri Kahiu. In a time in which we suffer from climate grief, when many of us feel nature speaking but can’t entirely say how or why, Pumzi hits close to home.