By Molly Given

In 2024, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University introduced the Confluence Film Festival—a multi-week event focused on showcasing environmentally conscious features.

In 2026, the occasion will return and take over Earth Month (April) with the theme of ‘Seeding the Future.’

“Each year of the Confluence Film Festival, our community and audience expand and the festival’s roots sink deeper into our partnerships and our purpose,” says Molly Gross, public programs manager.  “The festival brings together filmmakers, artists, organizers, scientists and audiences under one roof to share a vision for a sustainable future, and we couldn’t imagine a more fulfilling way to recognize Earth Month.”

Confluence will take place almost every Thursday in April from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Each installment of the film festival costs $10 and includes a meet-up in Dinosaur Hall, a series of feature-length, short and documentary films, and opportunities to hear from filmmakers, community-based organizations and advocates to learn how you can support the next generation of climate resilience.

The Confluence Film Festival’s Opening Night, presented by cinéSPEAK, will take place on Thursday, April 2 at 5 p.m. and will feature a live performance by vibraphonist Hudson River, live painting by Manuela Guillén—who also created this year’s festival poster—along with light refreshments and a cash bar.

From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the program will continue with film screenings followed by a Q&A. The lineup includes ‘Botany of Nations‘, a short documentary directed by Cass Gardiner that reexamines plant specimens collected during the Lewis and Clark expedition (the film also connects to the Academy’s ‘Botany of Nations’ exhibition), and ‘Munduruku – The Forest Of The Fish Women’, a feature documentary by Aldira Akay, Beka Munduruku, and Rilcélia Akay.

Set along the Tapajós River in the Amazon, the film explores Munduruku cosmology, where humans are believed to have transformed into elements of the forest. The evening will conclude with a post-screening Q&A featuring Gabriella Watson-Burkett (filmmaker and founder of Inti Media), Zakia Elliott (Soil Generation), and filmmaker Cass Gardiner.

On Thursday, April 9,  Confluence will continue with the Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation (PAAFF). Screenings that evening include ‘Conference of the Moths’, a 2-D paper cut-out stop-motion silhouette animation by Samhita Sunya, and ‘Nocturnes’, directed by Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta. The latter film follows two nocturnal insects in a remote ecological hotspot along the India-Bhutan border. A post-screening Q&A will feature Samhita Sunya and Academy Entomologist Greg Cowper, moderated by PAAFF’s Festival & Programming Director, Arzhang Zafar.

Programming on April 16 for the festival will be presented by BlackStar Projects, again beginning with a meet-up in Dinosaur Hall, followed by a screening (6:30 to 8:30 p.m.). The evening will feature ‘Seeds’, a documentary by Brittany Shyne. Through lyrical black-and-white cinematography, the film offers a meditative portrait of centennial farmers in the American South.

It all concludes on Thursday, April 23, with programming presented by PHLAFF, with  a screening of ‘Hasta la Raíz’, a historical fiction short directed by Nuria Schettino González, set in 1856 Los Angeles, where a Tongva woman fights to protect her land and daughter. The evening will also feature ‘El Tren y la Península’, a documentary by Sky Richards and Andreas Kruger Foncerrada that traces the development of the controversial “Maya Train” project across Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

For more information or to purchase tickets to the Confluence Film Festival at the Academy of Natural Sciences (1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway), visit ansp.org