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A special edition presented by
Supported by
The New Vision for Earth Film Festival returns for its fifth edition – and this year, it starts in the forests.
From the heart of the IMFN Global Forum and Forests, People, Planet, this special lineup brings powerful stories from the ground. Meet forest keepers and people sharing knowledge across generations – just one click away.
Real forests. Real people. Real stories. For two weeks, explore how these stories connect us all – beyond the screen. All films are available in English, French and Spanish.
Stay tuned for a live conversation on 27 May at 6:30 PM Eastern time (UTC–4) about community mobilization through cinema.
Drops of Hope
Drops of Hope
Other titles: Gotas de Esperanza, Gouttes d’Espoir
Creative Director: Anthony Njuguna
Producers: Adrian Leitoro & Ana Yi Soto
Cinematographer: Jonathan Kapumba & Anthony Njuguna
Editor: Wavua Mwambonu
Produced by: Global Landscapes Forum
“Drops of Hope” follows the inspiring leadership of Mama Chiputu and farmers in Malawi as they respond to land degradation and erratic rainfall driven by the climate crisis, adopting water harvesting, soil restoration and climate-smart agriculture through community learning and demonstration farms. This story captures how knowledge is shared peer-to-peer, how resilience is nurtured and how a deep sense of collective ownership is restoring both livelihoods and the land—with every step forward sowing seeds of hope.
Mujeres del Manglar
Mujeres del Manglar
Other titles: Women of the Mangrove
Director: Astrid Peraza
Director of Photography: Daniela Calvo
Produced by: Girl Rising
Women of the Mangrove” tells the story of a group of women who joined forces to confront poverty and long-standing government neglect in Manzanillo, a small fishing village on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. Their initiative, guided by the rhythm of the mangrove, is transforming both lives and landscapes. This documentary traces their personal journeys and reveals how solidarity and shared purpose can overcome adversity—because when it comes to climate change, no one can face it alone.
Al borde del bosque
Al borde del bosque
Other titles: At the edge of the forest
Director: Olivia del Giorgio
The Gran Chaco is a dry subtropical woodland spanning over one million square kilometers across Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. It is among the regions with the highest global rates of deforestation driven by large-scale agriculture. What campesino families living in the Chaco face is the steady and relentless advance of the soybean tide. It pushes in from all sides, squeezing communities onto shrinking patches of forest — green islands in a sea of monoculture. These families are the primary causalities—and often target—of land speculators, agribusiness conglomerates, and political leaders. People are fenced in and fumigated like the very soybean that surrounds them. Many are eventually forced to relocate. This is the story of their remarkable resilience and resistance. But also of despair, as it often feels like no one is listening. When is enough enough?
Official selection at: International Short Cinema Festival, El Alto, Bolivia, 2024; Concordia Film Festival, Montreal, Canada, 2024; Films for The Forest Festival (2024).
Screened during the Nature Based Solutions conference at Oxford University and at New York Climate Week.
Nominee in the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Student Competition (2024), and featured in the October Ecosystem Issue and Pick of Day at Labocine (2024).
Biocentrics
Biocentrics
Other titles: Biocêntricos
Directors: Fernanda Heinz Figueiredo and Ataliba Benaim
Writers: Ataliba Benaim and Jorge Saad Jafet
Producer: Jorge Saad Jafet
How would you reinvent a part of your world using nature as a model? In “Biocentrics,” this and other provocations are answered by the look of Janine Benyus. By connecting people who put life at the center of their choices, the biologist proposes technological and social innovations inspired by the experience of billions of years of Planet Earth.
Screening / Awards: International Wildlife Film Festival, 2023; One Earth Film Festival – Mini Earth Week Film Festival, 2023; São Paulo International Film Festival SPIFF, 2022; and Atlantidoc, 2022
Learn more about the film in https://filmfreeway.com/Biocentrics
What are Model Forests?
What are Model Forests?
Produced by: IUCN
The International Model Forest Network is the world’s largest network dedicated to sustainable landscape governance. Model Forests are landscapes of forests, farms, protected areas, and other geographical components governed by six broad principles that combine the social, environmental, and economic needs of local communities with the long-term sustainability of these large landscapes.
IUCN is collaborating with IMFN to promote community-first forest landscape restoration practices that benefit climate, biodiversity, and economies. Targeting Model Forests in Thailand, China, Bolivia, and Cameroon, this initiative focuses on scalable and innovative restoration techniques that enhance gender equality, education, and inclusive governance.
Lin’an Model Forest
Lin’an Model Forest
Produced by: IUCN
In the late 1980s, the people and government of Lin’an County were facing a timber-dependent economy, adversely affected by forest loss and degradation. Bamboo monoculture was generating negative ecological impacts and reducing biological diversity. Together with the Chinese Academy of Forestry, they began looking to develop non-timber forest products, such as hickory nuts as well as value added-bamboo products as alternate sources of income.
Lin’an became one of the most successful forestry districts in China, particularly for bamboo shoots and hickory production, as well as ecotourism.
Projeto Florestas Culturais
Projeto Florestas Culturais
Other titles: “Cultural Forests Project”, “Projet Forêts Culturelles”, “Proyecto Bosques Culturales”
Director: Andinho Lopes
Produced by: Fundação José Silveira
For the Maxakali indigenous community, whose territory is almost entirely deforested, forest resources that were once common and abundant, such as embaúba, a source of fibre, firewood and wild fruits, are now scarce. The resilience and strength of the Maxakali people should be praised here. They maintain strong cultural roots, with their songs playing an important role in passing on knowledge to younger generations.
In the Pataxós villages, the Arboretum Programme has been operating for ten years, supporting seed collection and seedling production, and since 2020, it has started agroforestry planting. However, there are several villages in the region that suffer from intense pressure and involvement in deforestation. More effort and action are needed to strengthen forest conservation, given the rarity and importance of the primary forest fragment of the Monte Pascoal National Park, the only Historical Park in Brazil.
Restoration of the cultural forests has worked in the Pataxó Craveiro village to support the sustainability of this community, promoting food security and income generation through the standing forest.
Oborniki Model Forest
Oborniki Model Forest
Director: Jarosław Bator
Produced by: Bukowsky Studio
The area of the Oborniki Model Forest is located on the edge of one of the largest compact forest complexes in Poland and Europe. The forest agency administers about 20,000 hectares of those forests surrounded by villages and cities. Local communities often use the forest and water resources for daily activities such as tourism, recreation, mushroom picking, fishing etc.
The region suffers from a water deficit every year, with the total yearly rainfall among the lowest in Poland. Social pressures on the use of natural resources, such as water, led to the decision to establish the first Model Forest in Poland, with the aim to spread the concept and its principles to other areas of the country.
Community-based fire management
Community-based fire management
Produced by: RECOFTC
In Nan province, Thailand, highland communities have long relied on fire for farming and foraging. However, uncontrolled fires can inadvertently lead to wildfires as well as smoke and haze, posing a serious threat to both people and the environment. Through our Community-based Fire Management project, we are working with local communities to create fire management plans that blend traditional practices with scientific knowledge. Our goal is to promote safer and more effective fire use through capacity development for communities while strengthening collaboration between communities and government agencies to reduce wildfire risks.
Model Forests of Italy: Restoring Communities and Landscapes
Model Forests of Italy: Restoring Communities and Landscapes
Director: Andrea Barzagli
Produced by: Mediterranean Model Forest Network Secretariat
Sensibilización
Sensibilización
Other titles: “Awareness”, “Sensibilisation”
Produced by: Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano (FCBC)
Our natural spaces have suffered so much throughout the past and are still threatened today. Despite the positive state of the natural resources around Chiquitano Model Forest, forest fires, illegal logging, mining and climate change are some of the main threats to the integrity of the landscape. Conservation and restoration are possible if we all work together.
Model Forests of Italy: Restoring Communities and Landscapes
Model Forests of Italy: Restoring Communities and Landscapes
Director: Andrea Barzagli
Produced by: Mediterranean Model Forest Network Secretariat
