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Festival Schedule & Info
All screenings will take place at Camino Real Cinemas in Goleta.
All Access Pass Holders will receive priority entry.
Tickets and passes can be picked up at the info booth in front of the theatre.
Walk-up tickets are available for purchase, subject to availability and theatre capacity.
Block times and films are subject to change.
Community Sunday - All blocks free admission subject to theatre capacity.
Saturday 11/15
Join us Saturday for 19 films across 6 blocks. Block 1 starts at 10 am.
All blocks 90 mins.
Saturday 11/15
Join us Saturday for 19 films across 6 blocks. Block 1 starts at 10 am.
All blocks 90 mins.
Sunday 11/16
Community Sunday
FREE ENTRY for all 9 films across 2 blocks on community Sunday, including the world premiere of
Ellwood Mesa - Beyond the Bluffs.
Auditorium 3
10:15 am
Art of the Wild
Oneness
Hoy'ri
The Opening Address
Between Salt and Sky
Martha
Lunch Noon to 2 pm
Filmmaker Panel TBA
Auditorium 4 Free Entry
2 pm
Nature as Healing
Bill's Story
The Chase
Beito
Punchline
Bat Boy
Feeling the Apocalypse
4:00 pm
Wild Mountains
Wildflowers
Into the Carpathian Wild
Auditorium 4
10:00 am
Winged Wonders
Penguins of the Point
Love Birds
Sitka's Hidden Wonders
Lunch Noon to 2 pm
Filmmaker Panel TBA
Auditorium 4 Free Entry
2:15 pm
Ocean Adventures
Ocean Memory Origins
Her Shark Story
5:45 pm
Special Event
10-Year Anniversary Screening
How to Change the World
Q&A with Rex Weyler
Greenpeace Int. Co-founder.
The Wild and Free Film Festival Awards will also take place at this special event. Event entry is included for all pass holders. Single tickets to this event can also be purchased online or at the door, subject to availability.
Auditorium 4
10:30 am
Earth, Wind & Fire
Trial by Fire
Listening with Fire
Return to the Earth
Elemental
Lunch Noon to 2 pm
Filmmaker Panel TBA
Auditorium 4 Free Entry
2:00 pm
California Stories
The Bees & The Birds
Battle of the Blues
Ellwood Mesa: Beyond the Bluffs
Rays: A Kayaktivism Story
Valley of Growth
The Natural World Unleashed!
Saturday, November 15th, 5.45 pm
10-Year Anniversary Screening Special Event
How to Change the World
In 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world's imagination. Using never before seen archive that brings their extraordinary world to life, How To Change The World is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.
How to Change the World will receive the inaugural Wild and Free Spirit Award,
to be accepted on behalf of the film by
Greenpeace International co-founder Rex Weyler, who will join us for a Q&A.
The Wild and Free Film Festival Awards will also take place at this special event. Event entry is included for all pass holders. Single tickets to this event can also be purchased online or at the door subject to availability.
Festival schedule at a glance
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Opening Night
Friday, November 14th, 6.30 pm
Camino Real Cinemas, Goleta
Tickets on sale now!
An opening night reception will follow the film at the Santa Barbara Fish Market Goleta Courtyard, with music, light bites & drinks for all pass holders and event ticket holders. 21+
Scroll down for all festival films.
The Central Coast Premiere of Checkpoint Zoo, the incredible documentary film from Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio and Director Joshua Zeman.
Checkpoint Zoo documents a daring rescue led by a heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers who risked their lives to save thousands of animals trapped in a zoo behind enemy lines during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Saturday 11/15
Join us Saturday for 19 films across 6 blocks. Block 1 starts at 10 am.
All blocks 90 mins.
Film Information
Features
Her Shark Story
Chile - 76 mins
This is the story of Sofia, a young marine biologist from Galapagos in Ecuador, who reconnects with her absent father through their shared passion for trying to save the biggest shark in the world, the Whale Shark.
Into the Carpathian Wild
Slovakia - 52 mins
Of all the mountain ranges in Europe, the Carpathians host the most primeval forests, the largest populations of bears, wolves, and lynx, along with an amazing diversity of other creatures.
Sitka's Hidden Wonders
USA - 43 mins
Told with quiet intimacy and sweeping cinematography, the film reveals the hidden layers of a coastal ecosystem shaped by extremes—where humpbacks feed in nutrient-rich waters, bears wander temperate rainforests, seabirds emerge only under moonlight, and glowing plankton spark life from the abyss.
Elemental - Reimagine Wildfire
USA - 51 mins
Elemental takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. We follow the harrowing escape from Paradise as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire’s start.
Short Films
Click poster to watch trailer.
Battle of the Blues
USA 26 mins
This short documentary explores the majestic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) that grace the waters off the Southern California coast, a population of the largest creatures ever living on Earth.
Return To The Earth
USA 7 mins
This intimate micro-documentary tells the story of Betty Seaman—a mother, builder, and teacher—who constructed her family's cob home with her own hands. What began as a quest for affordable, sustainable shelter grew into a living classroom for resilience and community.
Love Birds
USA 28 mins
George and Molly’s research on “lesbian seagulls” quickly triggers both outrage and jubilation in a nation grappling with the rise of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, and it threatens to tear apart their own relationship.
Oneness
USA 90 Seconds
In a world that stretches far and wide, there are moments when time slows, and hearts connect beyond borders.
Ocean Memory Origins
USA 6 mins
Nereid Biomaterials is a women-led company developing ocean-degradable bioplastics for the blue economy. Nereid’s proprietary formulations can speed up or slow down degradation—an unprecedented advancement in plastic design.
Beito
USA 12 mins
Three skiers visit their friend in Norway and film a ski movie along the way despite being amateur skiers, only having one camera, and knowing nothing about the area they are in.
Feeling the Apocalypse
Canada 7 mins
A psychotherapist struggling with climate anxiety explores what it means to live in a dying world. (Animated)
Martha
Switzerland 7 mins
A fake documentary about a true story: An old silent documentary from the 1910s has been found and restored. It tells the story of the most abundant bird on Earth, exterminated in just a few decades by human brutality. (Animated)
Between Salt & Sky
Brazil/Chile 17 mins
In the heart of the Bolivian altiplano, where the infinite white of the Salar de Uyuni meets the deep blue of the sky, an epic battle unfolds.
Valley of Growth
USA 15 mins - Student Film
Two women climbers, one a veteran and the other a novice, work together to reshape the climbing community in an ever-evolving landscape.
The Chase
USA 18 mins
The Chase is an East Coast ski film following Blake Keogh as he searches for snow, solitude, and connection.
Ellwood Mesa - Beyond the Bluffs
USA 22 mins
The compelling story of how the Goleta community came together decades ago to protect the Ellwood Mesa and the perseverance that still exists today to steward the land for all to enjoy for generations to come.
Penguins of the Point
Canada 17 mins
Exploring the daily lives of penguins at Volunteer Point in the Falkland Islands, showcasing the resilience of these remarkable birds as they face both predators and modern threats such as climate change, commercial fishing, and avian influenza.
Punchline
USA 10 mins
Eeland Stribling is many things: fly fisherman, wildlife biologist, Colorado native - but most notably, he is an avid stand-up comedian.
The Bees & the Birds
USA 12 mins - Student Film
California’s native bees are facing an uncertain future. The film explores this unfolding environmental crisis through the lens of a vibrant community garden that has become a safe haven for native bees, birds, and other wildlife.
Bills Story
UK 11 mins
Isle of Wight resident, Bill Smith, has been swimming in the Solent for much of his life and firmly believes this has contributed to his amazing longevity.
Hoy'ri
Brazil 14 mins
In the world’s driest desert, where stromatolites — the oldest fossil evidence of life on the planet — still persist, paleontologists excavate the past in search of answers about the evolution of life and the cosmos.
Wildflowers
Canada 38 mins
Mountain writer and historian Meghan J. Ward recruits a team of creative women to revisit Mary Schäffer Warren’s 1908 expedition to Maligne Lake, in Alberta’s Jasper National Park.
Trial by Fire
USA 10 mins
A look at an upcoming feature-length documentary exploring the challenges facing incarcerated firefighting programs from Executive Producer Danny Trejo.
Listening with Fire
USA 2 mins
In an intimate fire gathering, on sacred land along the coast of California, our short film invites viewers to reconnect with Grandpa Fire as a source of wisdom, rebirth, and illumination.
Bat Boy
USA 20 mins
Andre, a young man on the autism spectrum, finds solace in visiting the bats that live under the bridge near house. One day his world is turned upside down when the bats disappear.
The Opening Address
USA 10 mins
This film is presented by The Akwesasne Freedom School, a sovereign Mohawk immersion institution dedicated to preserving the language and culture that colonization sought to erase. Through the wisdom of elders, they ensure the Mohawk language and identity thrive for future generations.
Rays: A Kayaktivism Story
USA 13 mins
Rays: A Kayaktivism Story follows a group of activists who take to the water in kayaks to confront the fossil fuel industry that is directly threatening their community.
Thank you to everyone who attended our launch party!
Congrats to Rose O'Keefe, winner of the Great Gigantic Goonies Giveaway!
Wild and Free Film Festival
November, 14th - 16th Goleta, California
Wild and Free Film Festival (WAFFF) is a bold, independent film festival celebrating adventurous, diverse, and environmentally conscious storytelling from around the world. The festival aims to become a cultural destination event, inspiring audiences through thought-provoking films and community experiences. To this end, we are committed to showcasing films that defy genres, challenge the status quo, and ignite conversations.
The inaugural Wild and Free Film Festival is a weekend-long event, featuring the screening of over 25 new and original films in Goleta.
The festival will host industry panels, filmmaker discussions, and special appearances by prominent figures and notable guests, as well as special events, receptions, and an awards ceremony recognizing outstanding achievements in filmmaking.
Presenting Sponsor
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