SkyFire: A Film Festival

SkyFire Film Festival is an exciting new film fest that showcases documentaries about the environment. Dr. Joe Roselle chats with the magazine about the origins.

Go see the last day today! Film Schedule

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Dr. Joe Roselle, Chief Operating Officer of Urban Farming Education. My work lives at the intersection of education, climate action, and community engagement. At our core, we’re trying to close the gap between information and action—helping people not just understand environmental challenges, but actually do something about them. SkyFire is an extension of that mission. It’s where storytelling becomes a catalyst for real-world change.

2. What inspired you to start this film festival?

SkyFire was born out of a simple realization, people don’t act on information alone, they act on emotion, connection, and story. We’ve been doing hands-on education in gardens and classrooms for years, but we wanted a platform that could scale inspiration across an entire city. Film has that power. It brings people into the experience. It allows someone sitting in Phoenix to feel connected to a farmer, a scientist, or a community halfway around the world. SkyFire is about creating that spark and then building the pathways to act on it.

3. Why do you think films about sustainability and nature are important forms of advocacy?

Because they humanize complex systems. Climate change, water scarcity, soil degradation. these are big, abstract issues. Film makes them personal. It gives them faces, voices, and stories. Advocacy isn’t just about data; it’s about shifting culture. When someone watches a film and sees themselves in that story, that’s where change begins. That’s where apathy breaks down and responsibility starts to take shape.

4. What are you looking forward to during the festival?

Honestly, I’m most excited about the moments between the films. The conversations in the hallways, the connections between filmmakers, students, nonprofits, and community leaders. We’ve designed SkyFire as a citywide activation, not just screenings, but a shared experience. When someone watches a film, then steps into a panel, then connects with an organization doing that work locally, that’s where the real impact happens. That’s what I’m looking forward to.

5. What was one challenge you had to overcome in putting the festival together?

Scale and coordination. We intentionally designed SkyFire to span multiple venues and communities, ASU, Arizona Science Center, Culdesac, Beth Hebrew, because we wanted this to feel like a movement, not just an event. But with that comes complexity: logistics, programming, volunteers, technology, communication. The challenge was making something this big still feel intentional and connected. And honestly, that’s still the work aligning all the moving parts around a shared purpose.

6. What's your next project after this?

SkyFire is just the beginning. We’re building a year-round platform. That includes ongoing film screenings, expanding our Harvesting Wisdom podcast, scaling our school garden programs, and launching our new nonprofit collaborative to bring in more partners and funding. The goal is continuity, so the inspiration from SkyFire doesn’t fade, but instead feeds directly into education, action, and long-term community impact. For us, this isn’t a one-time festival. It’s part of a larger system we’re building.