DC Environmental Film Festival: Observer (2026 Stone Award Winner)

Winner of this year's Flo Stone and Roger D. Stone Award for Outstanding Artistry in Filmmaking, funded by the Farvue Foundation.

In OBSERVER, filmmaker Ian Cheney embarks on an experiment in which he brings a series of keen-eyed observers — scientists, artists, a hunter — to a range of locations around the world, often without telling them where they are going, and asks them simply to describe what they see.
What unfolds is a deep exploration and celebration of the power of observation: what happens when you find new ways to sense & perceive the world around you? With customary whimsy and a small painted red square that Cheney brings on every journey, the film is an invitation to viewers to find beauty and meaning in even the most quotidian of locales.

(USA, 2025, 94 min.)

Followed by a conversation with the filmmakers.

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Host or Publisher Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences