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Blue on the Big Screen

Islanders made homeless by sea-level rise, a dreaming dolphin, and deep underwater explorations are all subjects featured in the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival. The National Museum of Natural History is proud to host a few of this year’s selections. The festival runs from March 15 to March 27, 2011.

A bright red sea anemone clings to rocks underwater.
Seabirds on a rocky outcrop.
A bird sits atop an outcrop of rocks surrounded by turbulent water.
A photo of a seaside town with boats docked in the harbor and buildings along the shore.
A fish from a deep underwater expedition sits preserved on a bed of ice.
A scientist in a white lab coat stands in laboratory holding a jar of marine specimens.
A Gulf Coast resident sits on his boat, smiling for the camera.
An aerial shot of a tree-lined section of the Mississippi River at sunset.
An underwater photo of a diver with a camera shooting video of a whale.
A still from the animated movie showing a skeleton holding a graph that charts rising rising carbon dioxide for a school of fish to see.
An aerial shot of oil rigs off the Louisiana coast.
The Plastiki sailing vessel on the water with sails unfurled, in front of a large suspension bridge.
A painting of a working vessel moored at a dock.
An albatross soars over the ocean.
A silhouette of a small boat carrying 8 passengers on tranquil water, with a pink horizon.
Purple, pink and green corals growing underwater on a metal fence-like substrate.
A jellyfish floating in the water.
A bright red sea anemone clings to rocks underwater.

Red Anemone Clings

Credit: © CBC

A still from The Changing Sea, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

Seabirds on a rocky outcrop.

A Gathering of Seabirds and Seals

Credit: © CBC

A menageries of seabirds (including cormorants and pelicans) and seal gather on a rocky outcrop. The photo is a still from The Changing Sea, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival, which was held in Washington, DC in 2011. See more pictures from the festival's movies.

A bird sits atop an outcrop of rocks surrounded by turbulent water.

Offshore Rock Island

Credit: © CBC

A still from The Changing Sea, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

A photo of a seaside town with boats docked in the harbor and buildings along the shore.

Seaside Fishing Town

Credit: © CBC

A still from The Changing Sea, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

A fish from a deep underwater expedition sits preserved on a bed of ice.

Fish on Ice

Credit: © CBC

A still from Mysteries of the Deep, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

A scientist in a white lab coat stands in laboratory holding a jar of marine specimens.

Scientist and his Wet Specimens

Credit: © CBC

A still from the film, Mysteries of the Deep, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

A Gulf Coast resident sits on his boat, smiling for the camera.

Smiling Gulf Coast Man

Credit: © NRDC

A still from Stories From the Gulf: Living with the BP Oil Disaster, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

An aerial shot of a tree-lined section of the Mississippi River at sunset.

Down the Mississippi

Credit: © University of Minnesota

A still from Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

An underwater photo of a diver with a camera shooting video of a whale.

Whale on Camera

Credit: © Dominique Lemarie

A still from Where the Whales Sing, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

A still from the animated movie showing a skeleton holding a graph that charts rising rising carbon dioxide for a school of fish to see.

Carbon Dioxide Up

Credit: © Deep Green Films

A still from The Krill is Gone, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

An aerial shot of oil rigs off the Louisiana coast.

Oil Rigs off the Louisiana Coast

Credit: © Jon Bowermaster

A still from SOLA: Louisiana Water Stories, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

The Plastiki sailing vessel on the water with sails unfurled, in front of a large suspension bridge.

The Plastiki Sailboat

Credit: © National Geographic

A still from, Voyage of the Plastiki, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

A painting of a working vessel moored at a dock.

Chesapeake Boat Painting

Credit: © Seltzer Productions

A still from The Last Boat Out, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

An albatross soars over the ocean.

Albatross Soars

Credit: © Splashroom Media

A still from Albatrocity, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

A silhouette of a small boat carrying 8 passengers on tranquil water, with a pink horizon.

Carteret Islands Row

Credit: © Big Red Barn Films 2010

A still from Sun Come Up, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

Purple, pink and green corals growing underwater on a metal fence-like substrate.

The Coral Gardener

Credit: © BBC

When coral reefs are damaged, they sometimes struggle to grow back because there aren't enough coral seedlings around, and the ones that are around are growing together too closely.

Enter: the coral gardeners. Fiji's coral gardeners, who are fishermen trained by biologists, collect small corals that are struggling to grow because they have little space, and bring them to a raised platform that gets good sunlight, nutrients, food and is a good temperature—kind of like a coral greenhouse.

After two years, the corals have grown quite big (which you can see in this video). Some pieces of the corals are replanted, while some are kept in the greenhouse to grow even more.

This photo is a still from The Coral Gardener, a film presented in the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital in 2011, about Austin Bowden-Kerby, a man who gardens corals to help rebuild reefs.

A jellyfish floating in the water.

Jellyfish Floating

Credit: © Creative Commons

A still from Journey of the Universe, part of the 19th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital.

Tags: Events Films