This post was written by Hatchet reporter Tim Palmieri.
National Geographic’s Environmental Film Festival is showing a record 200 films across D.C. this month, but one stands out as a must-see.
South African filmmaker Rowan Pybus’s mini documentary “Amazing Grace” follows a young Zambia man named Lloyd Maanyina who is seeking redemption after he single-handedly destroyed thousands of trees to support his family through charcoal burning. Realizing his fatal mistake, Maanyina begins a nursery and sets out on a mission to plant trees.
Pybus’s work earned the first-ever Eric Moe Sustainability Film Award at the National Geographic’s Grosvenor Auditorium Thursday night. The theme of this year’s festival is “Our Cities, Our Planet,” aiming to scrutinize the challenges created by the planet’s urban environments and mankind’s efforts to balance environmental and economic needs in cities.
Thunderous applause and new ambitions filled the venue Thursday as Maanyina slaved over the destruction of trees and painstakingly strived to revitalize the land around his home. The film received six awards across the globe, including Best Film at the UN Forest Film Awards and Best Script at the Ethekwini Filmmakers Association Awards. Pybus said he hopes the film will spread awareness about the dangers of anti-environmental behavior.
“We’re trying every way we can to allow the message of sustainability to be shared and spread,” Pybus said in a discussion after the film. “We have great solutions to share.”
The Eric Moe Sustainability Film Award, given by a jury consisting primarily of environmental activists and educators, recognizes short films for their inventive solutions to sustainability and comes with a $1,000 cash prize.
It was founded by Julia and Richard Moe in memory of their son Eric, an award-winning filmmaker with a passion for sustainability.
“Some of the films were funny, some were serious, but they all celebrated this thought of sustainability that was Eric Moe,” said Shelley Cohen, senior project developer at Ameresco and one of the judges. “I wanted a film that spoke to the heart as well as Eric Moe.”
Runner-up was Simone Giampaolo’s humorous animation, “Hope,” which centered on the interactions between mankind and Earth. One scene depicts a man sitting on the personified planet as it struggles to walk. Similar to Maanyina, the man ultimately fixed his faults, making redemption a recurring theme.
“We still have the opportunity to change what we have, to change what we are doing,” said environmentalist Dianne Dillon-Ridgley. “That redemptive message is a message to us to change. It is truly time to mother nature.”
The festival runs until March 30.
