Policies on sustainability, and more sustainable practices, have already made their way as ‘norm’ across many pertinent and high emitting industries – think cars, energy supply, waste management. The film/TV industries however, have yet to enforce limits on their carbon emission outputs, despite the fact that these highly visible industries posses great social influence, and often rely on funding via pubic resources. That’s why at the Berlinale International Film Festival this year, representatives of several European Film Funds and green filmmaking initiatives sat down to discuss the film industry’s continued move towards more sustainable production practice. Yup, and it all went down at a panel entitled ‘Shades of Green’. [image: Bildschön]
The panel, which was open to all Berlinale festival attending film professionals, was hosted by Green Film Shooting in cooperation with Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH) and asked the following questions: Do producers need direction from funding bodies to go green? Do the funding bodies need to apply sustainability stipulations to their resources? How can the existing international initiatives work together? What possibilities exist for a European guideline, and how can we ensure that co-productions are also going sustainable too?
It is clear that all over Europe, national green film/tv initiatives are moving forward. For example, the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein has launched a new sustainable support measure for 2015: a film that receives funding from the FFHSH, can also apply to get the costs covered for an on-set green supervisor. In Holland, Els Rentjes (Sustainability Manager to the Dutch Film/TV industry) of The Netherlands Film Fund, is planning a series of trade specific workshops for this year. The workshops will work to educate film professionals on the new, and more sustainable technologies/techniques currently available to them.
All of the present representatives addressed the industry’s pressing need to put green filmmaking into action, not only in their own local productions but, across the board. The ‘Shades of Green’ panel provided a crucial opportunity to explore the possibility of employing a more unified approach, and effectively applied standard, across European boarders.
For full video coverage of the panel, check ‘Green Film Shooting’s Vimeo here. You can also check the ‘Green Film Shooting’s recap of the event here.
Representatives in attendance were:
Germany – Eva Hubert, Executive Director, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH)
The Netherlands– Els Rientjes, Sustainability Manager, Netherlands Film Fund
Belgium– Siebe Dumon, Head of Training and Research, Flanders Audiovisual Fund
France – Joanna Gallardo, Ecoprod Adviser, The-Ile-de-France Film Commission, ECOPROD
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