Pulitzer Center Grantee Discusses Award-Winning Film 'Cambodia Burning' at Environmental Film Festival

Join the Pulitzer Center at the virtual D.C. Environmental Film Festival (DCEFF) on Saturday, March 20, at 7pm EDT for a discussion and Q&A with grantee Sean Gallagher about his Pulitzer Center-supported short film, Cambodia Burning. Pulitzer Center Outreach Coordinator Holly Piepenburg, Cambodia Human Rights Task Forces founder Leng Ouch, and environmentalist Marcus Hardtke will join the conversation. The livestream will be viewable until March 28 at 11:45pm EDT.

The documentary—which has been recognized by the Earth Photo Awards, the British Photography Awards, the Drone Photo Awards, and the Social Impact Media Awards—uses a combination of drone footage and poetry to explore the rapid deforestation in Cambodia, as well as its impact on the Cambodian people. Estimates say only 3 percent of primary forest remains in the country.

A longtime Pulitzer Center grantee, Gallagher is a British photographer and filmmaker based in Beijing. His work focuses on the climate crisis and other global environmental issues, including biodiversity loss, pollution, desertification, and deforestation. 

As part of the event, DCEFF will be screening Cambodia Burning as well as four other Pulitzer Center-supported short films: Widespread Logging Threatens the Congo Basin's Critical Rainforest; A Nun, a Shooting and the Unlikely Legacy That Could Save the Amazon Rainforest; Diálogo con las plantas; and A vida numa reserva extrativista na Floresta Amazônica. The films will become available to view on the DCEFF website for free on March 19 and will remain up until March 28.