The EarthX Film & Music Festival is the only environmental film festival in Texas. The 2023 festival takes place Oct. 20-22 and will feature three evening programs in three beloved venues in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. Each program will feature film, music and conversation with themes around outside adventure, conservation, activism, intersectional environmentalism and representation in the outdoors.
Friday, Oct. 20 features “Common Ground.” The festival opens on Friday, Oct. 20 at the historic Texas Theater with a screening of “Common Ground,” the follow-up film to Kiss the Ground from filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell. Doors to the venue will open at 6 p.m., and guests are invited to enjoy a drink at the bar and find a seat in the theater.
The program will begin promptly at 7 p.m. The feature-length Common Ground explores the regenerative farming movement as narrated by Rosario Dawson, Laura Dern, Jason Momoa and others. Following the screening, members of the film team will join local farmers for further conversation around the subject. The evening will feature a concert by acclaimed indie artist, Donna Missal. An after-party will take place at vegan Tex-Mex fave Casa del Vegano with food, drinks and DJ music.
Saturday, Oct. 21 – The Heart Beats Outside: An Evening of Immersive Environmentalism. The second night of the festival is designed to tantalize all the senses. At the beautifully restored Arts Mission Oak Cliff in the heart of historic Winnetka Heights, guests will enjoy an evening of environmental film, food, music and storytelling.
The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with a curated menu from Dive Coastal Cuisine presented as guests stroll the garden adjacent to the former church. Beautiful projection mapping from Dallas-based Lightware Labs will transport North Texans to far-off land and waterscapes, followed by a thoughtful short film block and conversation centered around the powerful ways in which nature communicates with us.
Featured shorts include “Walking on Clouds,” “Soundscape,” “Light Beams for Helena” and “Tempo II: Movement in Jungle.”
The evening will close with extraordinary music performances from the Nick Rothouse Trio and world-renowned cellist and multi-instrumentalist Ben Sollee.
Sunday, Oct. 22: Where Passion Meets Purpose. The closing night evening for the EarthX Film & Music Festival will take place at the beautiful Kessler Theater in the heart of historic Oak Cliff. At 5:30 p.m., the theater will open for seat selection. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., a series of short films will be screened that highlight stories of characters that not only find purpose in the outdoors but strive to share that opportunity with others. Themes of conservation, food sovereignty and intersectionality will also be discussed both on screen and in thoughtful panel conversations. Films included are “Well Worn Life,” “The Ghost Rainforest,” “4DWN,” “Miles to Go” and “The Mud on Their Hands.”
The evening will also feature an intimate performance from Danielle Ponder, a rising R&B/soul singer who left her career as a New York public defender to pursue her calling in music, and the closing night after party will be held at The Wild Detectives and will feature music by DJ Elkin Pautt.
Festival Director Hayley Nenadal believes the stories shared and characters developed in these films and performances will resonate with a wide range of audiences.
“Environmentalism takes so many forms, and we’ve worked to share expressions that range from urban ecology and food insecurity to climate change to the emotional reactions our planet can evoke,” explained Nenadal. “We want to celebrate the diverse views and perspectives of our amazing world with all of North Texas.”
The EarthX Film & Music Festival will take place on Oct. 20-22, 2023 at various locations throughout Oak Cliff, Texas Theatre, 231 Jefferson Blvd., Dallas, TX 75208. Tickets are on sale beginning Oct. 20, 2023.
About EarthX Film. EarthX Film & Music Festival’s mission is to build an annual flagship environmental film festival in Dallas, Texas, and a year-round community that supports film, music, culture, and the outdoors. We seek to promote film and the art of storytelling in a way that entertains, informs and inspires audiences to get outside, push boundaries, and protect the environment.
We are reaching beyond the choir with the environmental conversation.
https://earthxfilmfestival.org/. For more information, please visit earthxfilmfestival.org.
Early bird tickets are available for each night of the festival beginning Friday, Sept. 8. Early bird pricing, which offers a 15% discount, will run through Monday, Oct. 9.
