Mountainfilm on Tour, The Environmental Center’s only fundraiser of the year, returns to Bend next week, with screenings Feb. 23 and 24 at the Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend. The annual event showcases a diverse array of short documentaries curated by Environmental Center staff with active Central Oregon audiences in mind, said Priscilla Calleros, events and outreach manager for the nonprofit Environmental Center.

As a host of Mountainfilm on Tour, we have over 50 films to pick from,” Calleros said. From October to December, she watches all the films.

“I look for anything that is relevant to The Environmental Center and the Bend community and Central Oregon,” she said. She then sends her selections to staff at Mountain film. After some feedback and a little back and forth, “they do their magic and organize them so they flow pretty well for both nights.”

Each evening features a different slate of films ranging in length from 5 to 22 minutes.

The program on Feb. 23 opens with “The Wild Within,” a 3-minute documentary about citizens of Churchill, Canada, a draw for wildlife fans from around the world due to the fact that, in Churchill, you can see the Aurora Borealis, beluga whales and polar bears in the same place, and hopefully not all at once.

Also on the evening’s bill is “Transenders” exploring how Skate Like a Girl, an organization with chapters in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland that provides a vehicle for personal transformation and transcending fear in the skateboarding world.

The Feb. 24 lineup includes “Paddle Tribal Waters,” a film Calleros believes Central Oregonians will find relevant

“It’s about youth paddling and whitewater rivers, but it’s also discussing the removal of the (Klamath) dams,” she said.

Also on the bill that evening is “The Ghost Rainforest,” the story of an Indigenous tribe from Brazil that explores deforestation. It’s told from the perspective of Indigenous activist Narubia Werreria, and follows five Indigenous leaders and activists from the Amazon rainforest. It managed to make Calleros cry in only a 10-minute running time.

Those are just a few of the short documentaries in Mountainfilm on Tour. Tickets are still available for each evening, as of this writing, and each is likely to sell out.

“Last year was the first time we had brought it back in person since 2020. The two years prior before that, we were virtual. … Last year we sold out, and every year we have had it in person does sell out.”

With watching virtually no longer an option, “if you want to see the films, you’ve got to come in person,” Calleros said.

If You Go

What: Mountainfilm on Tour

When: 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23 and Saturday, Feb. 24

Where: Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend

Cost: $22, plus $4 Historic Preservation fee, available at towertheatre.org

Contact: towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700