The 2026 New York University Global Climate Change Film Festival—the fourth annual exploration of climate science through storytelling—is set for April 22, 2026 at the NYU Kimmel Center in Greenwich Village. Winning entries will be screened and prizes will be awarded at the 5:00 p.m. celebration, open to the NYU community and livestreamed to the public.

The program will open with a talk by NYU climate scientist David Holland, “A Sea Curtain for Thwaites Glacier: Slowing Ice Loss at the Source.” The presentation is based on his recent expedition to Antarctica and moderated by festival founder and director Peter Terezakis, professor at the Tisch School of the Arts. The conversation brings current polar research into dialogue with the festival’s broader mission of connecting climate science to public understanding, and the power of visual storytelling. Holland, Denise Holland (his wife and collaborator), and Terezakis are NYU’s three polar field researchers, underscoring the festival’s distinctive position at the intersection of scientific fieldwork, artistic practice, and public engagement.

“Short films carry ideas across boundaries that academic writing sometimes cannot. A film can allow viewers to see climate change not only as a scientific phenomenon, but as a lived reality,” Terezakis says.

The festival has the power to engage audiences about the causes and consequences of a heating planet and how to prepare for a changing future. Simultaneously, it elevates student voices and promotes global dialogue around climate change, Terezakis says.

The festival invites submissions that examine the forces driving climate change, question the systems that have shaped the present, and go beyond warnings to include sustainable solutions to the accelerating problem. Submissions are open until April 15 at 5:00 p.m. Guidelines and entry details are available on the festival website.

Previous festivals have featured animation, documentaries tracking landscape, community and environmental change, and experimental works featuring metaphor and visual abstraction. Previous winners have been screened at the Canne Marché du Film in France and the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre in Greenland.

“At its core, the festival asks how storytelling can help us understand climate change now and imagine the future that lies ahead,” Terezakis says. “It is an invitation to explore a range of stories and to see our changing planet through new eyes.”

A total of $3,450 in prizes will be awarded to 10 recipients, including one $1,500 first prize, two $550 second prizes, three $150 third prizes and four $100 honorable mentions. The Kimmel Center is at 60 Washington Square South. Admission is free.

The festival is supported by NYU’s Office of Sustainability.

About the NYU Tisch School of the Arts
For over 60 years, NYU Tisch School of the Arts has drawn on the vast artistic and cultural resources of New York City and New York University to create an extraordinary training ground for students shaping the future of the field. Centering bold and risk-taking professional development, Tisch invests in the next generation of artists through rigorous and innovative inquiry while offering the liberal arts education of a premier global university with campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and 13 academic centers around the world. Learn more at tisch.nyu.edu