SYRCL’s 2025 Wild & Scenic Film Festival Announces Festival Award Winners
The South Yuba River Citizens League’s 23rd annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival wrapped up on Monday, February 17th. The festival, a fundraiser for SYRCL, featured five days of film sessions, workshops, panels, art exhibitions, a virtual reality experience, a media lounge, an EnviroFair, a scavenger hunt, and a wrap party with live music. Thousands of attendees, hundreds of volunteers, and nearly one hundred filmmakers from across the globe gathered in Nevada City and Grass Valley to experience one of the premiere environmental film festivals in the country.
Throughout its run, the festival showcased over 100 environmental and adventure films including 14 world premieres, 7 U.S. premieres, 4 West Coast premieres, and 7 California premieres. During the festival, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival Film Jury came together to deliberate and then announce the winners of several awards. The 2025 Film Jury brings a rich and varied experience in film, environmental conservation, and activism. This year the jury included representatives from the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Mendocino Film Festival, the Lake Tahoe Documentary Film Festival, the SF Independent Film Festival, and the Nevada City Film Festival.
The Jury watches a shortlist of films selected by the Festival’s Lead Programmer, Lívia Campos de Menezes; and the Festival Director, Eric Dunn, to decide upon the following awards: Best of Festival, Best in Theme, Spirit of Activism, Most Inspiring Adventure Film, Best Short, Jury Awards, and Honorable Mentions.
The Festival Director decides on two special awards: the Student Filmmaker Award and the John de Graaf Award for Environmental Filmmaking. The festival also hosts a Kid’s Jury, facilitated by Wild & Scenic co-founder Janet Cohen, which selects the Best Children’s Film.
In addition to the judges’ choices, festival attendees get to vote on their favorite film. Those votes are tabulated, and the winner is given The People’s Choice Award.
SYRCL’s 2025 Wild & Scenic Film Festival has announced its award winners. They are:
- John de Graaf Environmental Filmmaking Award – The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice
- Best of Festival Award – Mollie’s Pack
- Best in Theme Award – “Wild at Heart” – Wild Hope: Mission Impossible
- People’s Choice Award – A Radical Thread
- Best Short Film Award – Obibini
- Best Children’s Film Award — Cactus Hotel
- Spirit of Activism Award – Valve Turners
- Most Inspiring Adventure Film Award – About Damn Time
- Student Filmmaker Award – Tule
- Jury Award – Among the Wolves
- Jury Award – Canyon Chorus
- Honorable Mention – Footprints on Katmai
- Honorable Mention – Freya
- Honorable Mention – Here the Wild Things Are
- Kid’s Film Honorable Mention — Freya
Many of these films are available for streaming until Sunday, February 23rd on the Wild & Scenic Film Festival website: https://watch.eventive.org/wsff.
SYRCL would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to all the attendees and volunteers whose support made this year’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival a tremendous success. They also wish to express their gratitude to the filmmakers for their inspiring and beautiful contributions. Wild & Scenic looks forward to doing it again in 2026 for the 24th annual event, February 19-23, 2026.
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