Nevada City, CA — The South Yuba River Citizens League’s 24th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival is kicking off this week throughout Nevada City and Grass Valley from February 19-23, 2026. The festival showcases over 110 environmental films from around the world in addition to panels and special events. The full schedule is available at wildandscenicfilmfestival.org, where you can also purchase passes and individual session tickets.
As one of the most inspiring Environmental Film Festivals of the year, film sessions and free events fill up fast. There are only a limited number of tickets and passes left.
The theme of this year’s Wild & Scenic Film Festival, “Mobilize,” celebrates movements that create tangible change — from grassroots resistance to international coalitions, from Indigenous land stewards to youth climate strikers. Throughout the weekend of February 19-23, festival programming reflects this call to action, providing tools, connections, and inspiration for attendees to become active participants in environmental protection.
On Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 4:30 pm, the film festival begins with the opening of the 2026 Wild & Scenic Art Exhibition, “Mobilize” at the Granucci Gallery at the Center for the Arts in Grass Valley. Come celebrate the selected artists featured in the exhibition and be part of the public announcement of the Arts Awards. Enjoy complimentary refreshments at this free, public event. Then at 7:30 PM at the Nevada Theatre, there will be a film session featuring a screening of Chris Benchetler’s Mountains of the Moon. This visually stunning film explores the unseen connections between sport, life, music, and the living earth — all set to the timeless tunes of the Grateful Dead.
On Friday, February 20th there are film sessions at the Nevada Theatre, the Osborn Woods Hall in the Miner’s Foundry, and The Center for the Arts. The official Welcome Ceremony this year is presented with the generous support of Scott Beesley of Gateway Financial Partners. Starting at 5:00 pm in the Stone Hall at Miners Foundry, the Welcome Ceremony is a free to the public event and includes opening remarks from SYRCL staff, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Council member and spokesperson Shelly Covert, CA Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot, and more. Beverages and small bites will be available.
Speaking of refreshments, this year, thanks to the generous support of the festival’s Premier partner, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, complementary popcorn will be available at all film sessions showing at Nevada Theatre, the Oddfellows Hall, and Miners Foundry in Nevada City.
Just recently added to the slate of engaging non-film programming being offered throughout the festival, at City Hall in Nevada City on Sunday, February 22nd at 4:00 pm, writer, public lands advocate, and professional mountain biker Dillon Osleger, will be giving a talk that explores the National Trail System as both infrastructure and inheritance. Osleger’s talk will focus on thehundreds of thousands of miles of paths that shape how Americans experience public land, and increasingly, how those lands are threatened. Drawing on reporting, fieldwork, and trail projects across the West, he will examine how climate-driven disasters, chronic underfunding, and creeping privatization are causing trails to disappear from both the landscape and public memory. Through maps, historical context, and on-the-ground imagery, he reframes trails as essential public goods that connect ecology, access, and democracy, arguing that what happens to our trails is a warning sign for the future of public lands themselves. This talk draws from Osleger’s forthcoming book Trail Work (out May 2026 with Heyday Books).
Tickets and festival passes are available now at wildandscenicfilmfestival.org. The festival reminds Passholders that they must use their pass to reserve a seat in advance and arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the beginning of each session to guarantee seating.
Event Details:
- What: 24th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival
- When: February 19-23, 2026
- Where: Multiple venues in Nevada City and Grass Valley, California
- Tickets: wildandscenicfilmfestival.org
To learn more about the festival, please visit wildandscenicfilmfestival.org
To explore the full film lineup and purchase passes visit WSFF.eventive.org.
ABOUT THE 2026 WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL
One of the nation’s largest environmental and adventure film festivals, SYRCL’s 24th annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival combines stellar filmmaking, cinematography, and first-rate storytelling to inform, inspire, and ignite solutions to restore the earth and human communities while creating a positive future for generations to come. Festivalgoers are treated to a wide variety of award-winning films, including those about nature, community activism, adventure, conservation, water, energy, wildlife, and environmental justice. The 2026 Wild & Scenic Film Festival is hosted and produced by South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) and takes place Feb. 19-23 in Nevada City and Grass Valley, CA and online virtually Feb. 19-28. This flagship festival kicks off a nationwide tour bringing Wild & Scenic films to more than 40,000 people annually.
For more information, visit https://www.WildandScenicFilmFestival.org
ABOUT SYRCL:
The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL, pronounced “circle”) is the leading voice for the protection and restoration of the Yuba River watershed. Founded in 1983 through a rural, grassroots campaign to defend the South Yuba River from proposed hydropower dams, SYRCL has developed into a vibrant community organization with over 3,500 members and volunteers based in Nevada City, CA. See: www.yubariver.org