COMING JANUARY 2026 - STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS!
QC Environmental Film Series Mission:
To bring inspirational and educational environmental films to our community, encouraging grassroots activism for environmental justice and for the care of our planet.
Become a QCEFS underwriter!
For $300, you'll receive a Season Ticket to all 6 films, a QCEFS t-shirt, and special recognition on all QCEFS promotional materials, including social media, web, and email, and pre-film credits. Or, for a $750 sponsorship, receive the same benefits for the following THREE years. Most importantly, as a QCEFS underwriter you will help support free admission for all students and our mission: To bring inspirational and educational environmental films to our community, encouraging grassroots activism for environmental justice and for the care of our planet.
CLICK HERE to become a Film Series Underwriter or call River Action at (563)322-2969, email April Kleckner at akleckner@riveraction.org.
To learn more, please read our letter to our QCEFS Fans!
We appreciate your consideration and look forward to seeing you at the movies in 2026!
2026's QC Environmental Film Series Movie Line-Up - ANNOUNCED SOON!
2025's QC Environmental Film Series Movie Line-Up
FOOD, INC. 2 - January 19, 2025 at 3 p.m.
Hosted by: QC Environmental Film Series Committee
Reflection Speaker: Zack Smith, Inventor of the Stock Cropper
Food, Inc. ignited a cultural conversation about the multinational corporations that control our food system at enormous cost to our planet, workforce and health. In the well-timed sequel, Food, Inc. 2, comes "back for seconds" to reveal how corporate consolidation has gone unchecked by our government, leaving us with a highly efficient yet shockingly vulnerable food system dedicated only towards increasing profits. (94 min.)
FARMING WHILE BLACK - January 26, 2025 at 3 p.m.
Hosted by: QC Environmental Film Series Committee
Reflection Speaker: Todd Western III, Iowa Farmers of Color Conference Founder
The feature-length documentary film, Farming While Black, examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and the rising generation of Black farmers reclaiming their rightful ownership to land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots. Farming While Black is based on a best selling book. (77 min.)
RIPPLES OF PLASTIC - February 2, 2025 at 3 p.m.
Hosted by: North High School's Green Team
Reflection Speaker: Chris Langer, Filmmaker & Director of Ripples of Plastic
Embark on an eye-opening journey through the unseen impacts of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes region. Guided by Dr. Sherri Mason and other regional voices, witness the vast extent of contamination pathways, effects of microplastics, and the unexpected toll on human health. Beyond individual action, Ripples of Plastic, inspires a collective movement for transformative progress toward a plastic-free future. (44 min.)
STUDY ABOARD - February 2, 2025 at 3 p.m.
Prior to Ripples of Plastic, enjoy the short film by Rivers Are Life, Study Aboard, about Living Lands & Waters ‘Alternative Spring Break’ program. (16 min.)
THE SHIT.THROP.O.CENE - February 16, 2025 at 3 p.m.
Visit the Sustainability Lifestyle Student Fair from 1:45-2:45 in the Figge Art Museum Lobby
Hosted by: Augustana College's Sierra Club
Reflection Speaker: Sustainability Lifestyle Panel
Patagonia Films presents, The Shitthropocene, a journey from the cellular-level origins of our lack of impulse control to the ways our central nervous systems have been hacked in the name of capitalism. It’s also about how we might begin to save ourselves from ourselves. Plus, there are dancing cave people. (46 min.)
THE HUNT FOR PLANET B - February 23, 2025 at 3 p.m.
Hosted by: Black Hawk College's Clean Sphere
Reflection Speaker: Dr. Douglas Davidson, Physics Professor - Black Hawk College
Taking us behind the scenes with NASA's high-stakes Webb Space Telescope, The Hunt for Planet B, follows a pioneering group of scientists, many of them women, on their quest to find another Earth among the stars. What begins as a real-time scientific adventure turns into a deep meditation on human longing. (93 min.)
GIANTS RISING - March 2, 2025 at 3 p.m. - ***Shown at the Galvin Arts Center***
Hosted by: St. Ambrose's Green Life
Reflection Speaker: Lisa Landers, Producer & Director of Giants Rising
Journey into the heart of America's most iconic forests, Giants Rising, reveals the secrets and the saga of the coast redwoods--the tallest and among the oldest living beings on Earth. It's an epic tale that explores the wonders of these silent giants and our dramatic, ever- evolving relationship with them. (80 min.)
A special thank you to our 2025 underwriters:
Carolyn & Joseph Martin
Cathy Weideman & John Gardner
Curtis Lundy
Rene & David Gellerman
Faye & Dana Waterman
Glenn Peterson & Kent Douglas
Jane Cox & Les Cox
Julie & Jerry Skalak
Jerry Neff Memorial Fund
Judith & Kent Pilcher
Lynn Drazinski & Donald Doucette
Mary Regan & Joe D’Souza
Truth First Film Alliance
Prairie Rivers Network
Quad-Cities Women's Outdoor Club
2024's QC Environmental Film Series Movie Line-Up
All That Breathes - January 21st, 2024 - Hosted by QC Environmental Film Series Committee
As legions of the black kite (birds of prey) fall from New Delhi’s smoke-choked skies, two dedicated brothers care for them in a makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement. The majestic raptors are essential in controlling vermin in the urban ecosystem. All That Breathes was a 2023 Academy Award nominee for best documentary.
Reflection Speaker: Dave Murcia - Director/Naturalist - Wapsi River Environmental Education Center
Hosted by: St. Ambrose's Green Life
Reflection Speaker: Lisa Landers, Producer & Director of Giants Rising
Journey into the heart of America's most iconic forests, Giants Rising, reveals the secrets and the saga of the coast redwoods--the tallest and among the oldest living beings on Earth. It's an epic tale that explores the wonders of these silent giants and our dramatic, ever- evolving relationship with them. (80 min.)
A special thank you to our 2025 underwriters:
Carolyn & Joseph Martin
Cathy Weideman & John Gardner
Curtis Lundy
Rene & David Gellerman
Faye & Dana Waterman
Glenn Peterson & Kent Douglas
Jane Cox & Les Cox
Julie & Jerry Skalak
Jerry Neff Memorial Fund
Judith & Kent Pilcher
Lynn Drazinski & Donald Doucette
Mary Regan & Joe D’Souza
Truth First Film Alliance
Prairie Rivers Network
Quad-Cities Women's Outdoor Club
2024's QC Environmental Film Series Movie Line-Up
All That Breathes - January 21st, 2024 - Hosted by QC Environmental Film Series Committee
As legions of the black kite (birds of prey) fall from New Delhi’s smoke-choked skies, two dedicated brothers care for them in a makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement. The majestic raptors are essential in controlling vermin in the urban ecosystem. All That Breathes was a 2023 Academy Award nominee for best documentary.
Reflection Speaker: Dave Murcia - Director/Naturalist - Wapsi River Environmental Education Center
Last Paddle? - January 28th, 2024 - Hosted by Black Hawk College's Clean Sphere
This inspirational and visually stunning film which chronicles the amazing lifetime journey of renowned river advocate Mark Angelo who has paddled more than 1000 rivers in well over 100 countries. This film chronicles his life-long commitment to river conservation and restoration around the globe.
Reflection Speaker: Dan Breidenstein - Vice-Chair for Crew - Living Lands & Waters
The Woman Who Loves Giraffes - February 4th, 2024 - Hosted by QC Environmental Film Series Committee
In 1956, 23-year-old biologist, Anne Innis Dagg, made a solo journey to South Africa to become the first person to study giraffe behavior in the wild. She faced many obstacles as a female scientist. Dr. Dagg was absent from the giraffe world for 30 years, until her triumphant return which is also celebrated with a journey back to South Africa.
Reflection Speaker: Joel Vanderbush - Curator of Conservation and Education - Niabi Zoo
Environmental Student Fair - Lobby - 2pm-3pm
The Hidden Life of Trees - February 18th, 2024 - Hosted by St. Ambrose's Green Life
“Branching” off of his bestselling book, renowned forester and writer Peter Wohlleben guides us through his most precious ideas and understanding of how trees work. Presenting ecological, biological and academic expertise with matter of fact candor, Peter inspires us to really see the forest for the trees.
Reflection Speaker: Stephanie M. Adams, PhD - Tree Pathologist & ISA Board Certified Master
Buy the book:The Hidden Life of Trees
We the Power - February 25th, 2024 - Hosted by Augustana College's Student Sierra Club
This inspiring and entertaining film highlights the citizen-led community-energy movement in Europe. The film chronicles four local dedicated cooperatives from deep in the Black Forest, to the streets of ancient Girona, to the urban rooftops of London, as they pave the way for a clean energy revolution to build healthier, financially-strong communities.
Reflection Speaker: Sarah J. Gardner - Climate Action Coordinator - Iowa City
Who Are the Marcuses? - March 3rd, 2024 - Hosted by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities
The documentary looks at the lives of Holocaust survivors Lottie and Howard Marcus, an unassuming couple from Great Neck, N.Y. Their surprising donation of $500 million to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the academic Israeli institution furthers water technology research that inspires peace and climate action benefitting us all.
Reflection Speaker: Ellen Marcus, daughter of Lottie & Howard Marcus and Marc Bennett, Executive Producer of 'Who Are the Marcuses'
The documentary looks at the lives of Holocaust survivors Lottie and Howard Marcus, an unassuming couple from Great Neck, N.Y. Their surprising donation of $500 million to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the academic Israeli institution furthers water technology research that inspires peace and climate action benefitting us all.
Reflection Speaker: Ellen Marcus, daughter of Lottie & Howard Marcus and Marc Bennett, Executive Producer of 'Who Are the Marcuses'
Click below to make a general donation to River Action via PayPal.
