We’re having a milestone birthday!
Founded in 1977, IWFF is celebrating its 50th festival in 2027. Get involved with special events, excursions, and all things wild.
The International Wildlife Film Festival is excited to present a variety of events to commemorate 50 years of wildlife and conservation films. Please check back often as events will continue to be added to the calendar.
More info is coming soon, sign up for our newsletter to get the latest.
IWFF 50th Anniversary Safari
September 19 – 26, 2027
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Wildlife Film Festival with the ultimate wildlife experience!
Discover one of the planet’s most extraordinary ecosystems – Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Designed for modern explorers who crave authentic adventure with a purpose, this journey plunges you into a wildlife wonderland where the thrill of spotting a wild jaguar is always a possibility.
Hosted by Rewild Safaris. Private and limited to 10 adventurers of all abilities.
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IWFF50 Memory Collection Project
In honor of the 50th International Wildlife Film Festival, the IWFF team is collecting and sharing stories of past festival-goers. Join us at the Roxy Theater to share your experiences and reminisce about the past five decades of wildlife film.
Do you have photos or home videos to share? We would love to see them! Our team is specifically interested in photos from 1977 – 1999.
Please email your photos or reach out to [email protected] to schedule a time to share your memories.
Koko: A Talking Gorilla
September 15, 2026
In 1977, acclaimed director Barbet Schroeder and cinematographer Nestor Almendros entered the universe of the world’s most famous primate to create the captivating documentary Koko: A Talking Gorilla.
The film introduces us to Koko soon after she was brought from the San Francisco Zoo to Stanford University by Dr. Penny Patterson for a controversial experiment—she would be taught the basics of human communication through American Sign Language.
Released the same year the IWFF organization was founded, this entertaining, troubling, and still relevant documentary evokes the science-minded, educational style of the films programmed in the earliest days of the International Wildlife Film Festival.
Duration: 80 Minutes
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Celebrate World Animal Day with a matinee screening of Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988) and The Natural History of the Chicken (2000)
October 4, 2026
In 1988, Australian television producer and documentary filmmaker Mark Lewis exploded onto the scene with Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, a documentary detailing the spread of Hawaiian sugar-cane toads through Australia in a botched effort to introduce them as pest control. His take on an ecological crisis was experimental and comedic, an early landmark in the expanding definition of what wildlife filmmaking can look like, is an idea that IWFF strives to promote even today with our New Vision awards category.
Throughout his career, Lewis continued to seek out and share remarkable stories of human-animal relationships and interactions. His 2000 film A Natural History of the Chicken combines interviews and reenactments to investigate the role of one of the most important animals in American life: the chicken.
Run time: 102 Minutes
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Microcosmos (1996)
November 16, 2026
Experience the strange, beautiful, surreal world of insects as never before in this singular, artful nature documentary, which employs specially created cameras and lenses—developed over the course of three years—to capture an unseen parallel universe up close. With astonishing clarity, Microcosmos shows us the secret lives of snails, spiders, caterpillars, mantises, beetles, and more as they live, love, and struggle to survive, inviting us to see life on our own planet through new eyes.
By the 1990s, the International Wildlife Film Festival was truly international, bringing films and filmmakers from across the globe to the Heart of Montana. IWFF still prides itself in bringing acclaimed foreign films to the people of Missoula that they otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to see.
Duration: 76 Minutes
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Grizzly Man (2005)
January 19, 2027
In 2005, Werner Herzog released the most famous wildlife documentary of all time—Grizzly Man. Witness the story of Timothy Treadwell, an eccentric environmentalist who spent thirteen years in the Alaskan wilderness living among the grizzlies. This is a tragic story documenting human hubris in the face of untameable nature.
The International Wildlife Film Festival purchased the Roxy Theater as a permanent home in 2002. The proceeding decade marked a shift in the International Wildlife Film Festival’s programming from National Geographic-style, humanity-free documentaries to stories of human-wildlife relationships and people working in wildlife spaces, to protect animals, exploit them, or a blend of both. Films like Grizzly Man led to IWFF awards like Living with Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, and Sustainable Planet.
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My Octopus Teacher (2020)
February 23, 2027
In the kelp forests off the coast of South Africa, filmmaker Craig Foster forges an unusual connection with a female octopus, learning as she teaches him about her ways and her world. Produced by Netflix and released in the fall of 2020, My Octopus Teacher proved that even at the height of COVID-19 there was still a public appetite for wildlife filmmaking.
After the launch of the Roxy Theater’s year-round screening schedule in 2013, IWFF was able to grow and thrive within its permanent home. After 17 successful festivals under the Roxy’s roof, the pandemic shook the foundation of IWFF. The fest had to pivot and the IWFF virtual festival was born, and became a great success in uncertain times. Today, the virtual festival is still an important part of IWFF’s offerings, and people from around the world can bring the wonder of IWFF to the comfort of their own homes.
Duration: 90 Minutes
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More ways to engage with IWFF
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