The 16th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital will be held March 11 through 22. For a complete schedule, visit dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org or call 202.342.2564.

Godfrey Reggio's Qatsi Trilogy In Person: Director Godfrey Reggio will appear at all three screenings of his Qatsi Trilogy. Taking its titles from Hopi Indian words, the films in the Qatsi Trilogy chronicle the rhythms of life on Earth and the destructive impact of the modern world on the environment.

Godfrey Reggio

KOYAANISQATSI: LIFE OUT OF BALANCE
In Person: Director Godfrey Reggio

An apocalyptic vision of two different worlds, KOYAANISQATSI shows both: natural beauty and our growing dependence on technology. Capturing stunning visual images of North America, from desert landscapes to rocket explosions, rhymthically set using slow-motion and time-lapse techniques to a score by Philip Glass, this ground-breaking film was the first full-length commercial nonverbal film. All the images are of real life, presented to show the imbalance between nature and urban culture - the latter moving at a frenetic pace, detached from the natural environment and overwhelmed by technology. Intended for differing individual interpretations, the images inspire a thousand thoughts.

DIR/SCR/PROD Godfrey Reggio; SCR Ron Fricke, Michael Hoenig and Alton Walpole. US, 1982, color, 86 min. NOT RATED

Friday, March 14, 7:00

POWAQQATSI: LIFE IN TRANSFORMATION
In Person: Director Godfrey Reggio

Focusing on the people of the developing world - from Brazil, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nepal and Peru - and closely observing their everyday lives in vivid color and slow motion, POWAQQATSI puts the audience nearly close enough to smell the food cooking, the fresh fish and nearby fires. The film celebrates the human-scale endeavors of craftsmanship, spiritual worship, labor and creativity that define a particular culture, capturing what is rare and beautiful about these people and their civilizations. In keeping with the trilogy's theme, POWAQQATSI also reveals the impact of technological progress on native cultures - their complicated interaction with such new additions as cars and high-rises.

DIR/SCR/PROD Godfrey Reggio; SCR Ken Richards ; PROD Mel Lawrence, Kurt Munkacsi and Lawrence Taub. US, 1988, color, 99 min. In English, Hopi and Spanish with English subtitles. RATED G

Saturday, March 15, 7:00

NAQOYQATSI: LIFE AS WAR
In Person: Director Godfrey Reggio

Exploring the most significant event in the last 5,000 years of human history, the transition from the natural to the technological milieu, NAQOYQATSI contrasts the earthy diversity of nature with the homogenization of technology. As it consumes the old natural world with its infinite appetite, the explosive tempo of technology becomes "naqoyqatsi," a sanctioned aggression against the force of life itself, a war-life beyond the confines of the battlefield. The film envisions a world made in the image of the new divine, the computer.

DIR/SCR/PROD Godfrey Reggio; PROD Joe Beirne and Lawrence Taub. US, 2002, color, 89 min. RATED PG

Sunday, March 16, 7:00

THE BIG COUNTRY
In Person: Catherine Wyler, Artistic Director, Rochester/High Falls International Film Festival and daughter of Director William Wyler

Considered one of the best Westerns ever made, this classic film spotlights rival ranchers Burl Ives and Charles Bickford fighting over rights to a river located between their two properties. Retired wealthy sea captain Gregory Peck arrives to marry his fiancee Carroll Baker. But his values and approach to life are a mystery to the ranchers, and foreman Charlton Heston dislikes him at first sight - especially since he wants the girl himself.

DIR/PROD William Wyler; SCR Jessamyn West, Robert Wyler, James R. Webb and Sy Bartlett, based on the novel by Donald Hamilton; PROD Gregory Peck. US, 1958, color, 165 min. NOT RATED

Sunday, March 16, 3:00

THE UNFORESEEN

Executive Producers: Terrence Malick and Robert Redford
Winner, 2008 Truer Than Fiction Award, Independent Spirit Awards

The American Dream of owning a house with a white picket fence clashes with environmental sustainability in this documentary shot in Austin, Texas. The film tracks the career of Gary Bradley, a west-Texas farm boy who becomes one of the largest developers in the state. In the 1980s, Bradley had plans to transform miles of pristine hill country outside Austin into large-scale subdivisions. But the proposed development jeopardized Barton Springs, a watering hole treasured by locals, and served as a lightning rod for mobilizing environmental activism.

DIR/PROD Laura Dunn; PROD Douglas Sewell and Jef Sewell. US, 2007, color, 88 min. NOT RATED

Friday, March 21, 7:00