Prince George’s Film Festival Puts the Environment on Screen
Filmmakers Have An Aug 28 Deadline To Participate
The next powerful story about climate change may not begin in a laboratory, government hearing or scientific report. It could begin with a filmmaker, a camera and a story unfolding in a neighborhood much like our own.
The Prince George’s Film Festival is putting environmental storytelling in the spotlight with the launch of its first Climate and Environmental Storytelling Track, an initiative designed to use film to explore climate action, environmental justice, sustainability and resilience.
The festival and the Prince George’s County Department of the Environment, working in partnership with the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council, are inviting filmmakers to submit projects that turn some of today’s biggest environmental challenges into stories audiences can see, hear and feel.
And the creative possibilities are wide open.
Narrative films, documentaries, shorts, animation and student productions are eligible. Projects can tackle everything from clean energy and conservation to environmental justice, climate resilience and community-driven solutions. Filmmakers have until August 28, 2026, to submit their work through the festival’s FilmFreeway platform.
What makes the effort especially intriguing is its determination to put a human face on a subject often communicated through statistics, forecasts and policy debates.
“Climate change is not only a scientific or policy issue—it is a human story that affects our health, homes, neighborhoods and future,” said Dr. Samuel B. Moki, director of the Prince George’s County Department of the Environment. He noted that film can make complicated environmental issues easier to understand while bringing traditionally overlooked voices into the conversation.
That means a filmmaker might capture the experiences of residents confronting environmental change, follow an innovator developing a cleaner solution or document a community organizing to protect its neighborhood. The goal is not simply to show what is happening to the planet, but to spotlight the people doing something about it.
The first films will take center stage November 19 at the Braveboy Climate Leadership Summit, where a special screening and moderated discussion will explore how storytelling can advance climate awareness and action. The environmental track will then continue throughout the Prince George’s Film Festival, running November 19–22, with selected films from Prince George’s County and around the world, along with filmmaker conversations, panels and audience talkbacks.
For Rhonda Dallas, CEO and Chief Curator of the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council, the marriage of art and environmental awareness is particularly powerful.
“Storytelling has the power to make complex climate and environmental issues personal, relatable, and deeply human in ways that facts and data alone cannot,” Dallas said. The new track, she added, gives filmmakers an opportunity to encourage dialogue, amplify community voices and inspire action.
That mission fits naturally into the broader Prince George’s Film Festival, which showcases films from around the world while elevating local filmmakers and the County’s diverse creative talent. This year’s festival returns in a focused format featuring screenings, filmmaker conversations and community experiences.
For filmmakers, the message is clear: climate change is more than a headline. It is a collection of human stories waiting to be told—and Prince George’s County is offering them a screen.
