Fighting for Florida film screening - FREE EVENT

The Florida Environmental Film Festival Returns In Person!

We’re thrilled to announce the return of our in-person Film Festival! Join us for an inspiring evening featuring the locally made documentary FIGHTING FOR FLORIDA, directed by Wilson McCouirtney.

YOU MUST RSVP (free) ON THE WEBSITE - LINK HERE: https://www.thefeff.org/event-details/in-person-festival-nov-24-fighting-for-florida

Date: Monday, November 24, 2025
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Location: Selby Public Library, 1331 1st Street, Sarasota, FL 34236

This year’s festival will showcase FIGHTING FOR FLORIDA, a powerful film exploring the environmental challenges and resilience shaping Florida’s future. Following the screening, Director Wilson McCouirtney will host a Q&A session to discuss the film’s themes and the urgent issues impacting Florida—and the world.

We’ll also take a brief intermission midway through the film.

Come celebrate local storytelling, community, and environmental awareness. We can’t wait to see you there!

Wilson McCourtney’s film FIGHTING FOR FLORIDA courageously presents what he calls a “6-headed monster” – big sugar, big fertilizer, the mosaic phosphate mining industry, mismanagement of Lake Okeechobee, herbicide spraying, and sewage spills, which all add to the nutrient load and are sending Florida’s oceans into a tipping point. The pollution coming from these 6 industries contributes to harmful events like red tides and cyanobacteria blooms, which severely impact marine ecosystems by choking all the local wildlife to death.

With a passionate team of advocates, shark divers, photographers, and politicians, he fights for legislative change and inspires viewers to see the importance of protecting sharks and our oceans, proving that change is possible, even in a place like Florida. This cinematic journey not only explores our deep connection to the natural world but also evokes a profound sense of wonder and urgency, inspiring a collective call to stand up, get loud, and fight back against wildlife abuse to preserve biodiversity and save what’s left of this fragile planet for future generations.

Unlike other depressing environmental documentaries that offer no solutions, McCourtney was able to capture lightning in a bottle and follow the journey of a successful bill as it made its way through the House and the Senate in Tallahassee. “The Kristin Jacobs Ocean Conservation Act” was signed into law in 2020, which finally banned the import, export, and sale of shark fins in the state of Florida, and McCourtney was there with his cameras documenting this entire monumental achievement, which brings a much-needed sense of hope to the film.

This cinematic journey not only explores our deep connection to the natural world but also evokes a profound sense of wonder and urgency, inspiring a collective call to stand up, get loud, and fight back against wildlife abuse to preserve biodiversity and save what’s left of this fragile planet for future generations.