Green Network
Since 2011 Green Film Making has met a lot of inspiring people from around the globe who also work in the field of sustainable film making and share our passion to go green. In this Network section we would like you to meet those people as well. Please join the green voyage of discovery by reading their profiles and if you have a great example that needs a stage: be our guest, and get in touch!
Focus on Green Film Shooting : Birgit Heidsiek
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, German initiative Green Film Shooting organized the second edition of a sustainability panel at the Italian Pavilion in the luxurious Hotel Majestic. Co-hosted by the Cine-Regio Green Subgroup, it brought together a group of sustainability front runners from all over the world. A good opportunity for Green Film Making to catch up with Green Film Shooting’s Birgit Heidsiek, and ask her about the results in Cannes and the current situation of sustainable production on her own turf: Germany.
Focus on albert (UK) – Jeremy Mathieu
Photo by Annie East
Jeremy Mathieu, International Manager of albert, the UK’s think-tank on sustainability in film and television, was recently in the Netherlands for a second training at NTR. The Dutch broadcaster has acquired the license for this British initiative to implement as the sustainability standard for their productions. It could be argued that albert, governed by the BAFTA albert Consortium, is the most established and developed program for sustainability in the audiovisual industry in Europe. Jeremy, originally from France but in the UK for over 15 years, divides his time between albert and his other job as sustainability advisor for the BBC. We catch up with him to get more insight in the possibilities of widespread implementation of the program and the context of the UK industry compared to the Dutch. He is clearly very driven and becomes increasingly enthusiastic when speaking about the vision and possibilities of albert. And it’s easy to see why.
Focus on VAFs ‘e-Mission’ – Tim Wagendorp
After our report on our French colleagues at Ecoprod last month, we got curious to look across the border more often to see what our different neighbors are up to. This month: the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and their e-Mission program. We reported on their groundbreaking initiative in the past when it was still in its infancy. These days they are many steps ahead and still with the frontrunners in Europe in terms of sustainability.
New green missions in France: Waste, Post-production and eco-bonus in funding
After our first profile in 2013 on French partner in green production Ecoprod, we are catching up with them at the beginning of the year to see what they have on the agenda. Green Film Making spoke with Joanna Gallardo, the new director of the Ile De France Film commission as well as the international delegate for Ecoprod. Already 8 years in existence, the consortium is comprised of several stakeholders who all contribute to the Ecoprod initiative equally through sharing tasks as well as financially. read more…
Chai Locher & Wiendelt Hooijer (The Netherlands)
Chai Locher and Wiendelt Hooijer have been on board with The Green Film Making Project from the very beginning in 2011. Since the start of the project Chai has been connected as Project Manager to manage the team while maintaining contact with project partners and industry professionals. Wiendelt has been serving as Project Leader, focusing on financial management, practical implementation, website maintenance, as well as providing technical support for events. These two fine gentlemen are the subject of this latest installment of the ‘Who’s Who in Green Filmmaking Online Series’. Here, they reflect on their experiences with green filmmaking over the past three years, in order to explain where the future of the Dutch film industry lies. [photo: Anne-Claire Breij]
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Els Rientjes, Sustainability Manager to the Dutch Film Industry
As of Jan. 1st 2015, Els Rientjes will be in full force as the first official Sustainability Manager for the Dutch film industry. Rientjes is committed to making the Dutch film industry more sustainable, and also has years of experience within the Dutch Television and Film Industry to draw from; as a Creative Producer at IDTV, Manager of TV Productions at Niehe/Stokvis, and most recently, as Creative Producer at Fu Works. Rientjes is looking forward to taking on sustainability within her new role: “I want to use my passion and knowledge of Film and Television, in order to make the sustainable innovation more accessible to film producers.” And the industry, is very lucky to have her. [photo: Michael Vervuurt] read more…
Siebe Dumon (Flanders/Belgium)
Film production within Flanders, in the northern part of Belgium, is taking on sustainability in a major way. And for this, we have Siebe Dumon to thank. Siebe got her start in the industry, as a producer in TV production. She is someone who knows what it means to deliver quality content with tight deadlines. And, she knows how to do all of this on a strict budget. In her current role at the regionally based Flanders Audio-Visual Fund (VAF), Siebe has been able to draw on this production experience, for her most recent and influential pursuit: to green the industry. The fruits of her labor? E-Mission; a regional film fund initiative that rewards greener thinking productions with… financing. If it sounds cutting edge, that’s because it is.
Doreen Boonekamp, Director of The Netherlands Film Fund
The Green Film Making Project, an initiative of Strawberry Earth, is made possible by way of partnerships with many pre-existing, established entities. One of the most reputable is The Netherlands Film Fund. In this latest edition of the Who’s Who in Green Filmmaking Online Series, Doreen Boonekamp, the director of the Netherlands Film Fund, talks the future of the Dutch film industry, green filmmaking, and the taking on of an industry Sustainability Manager: “the best developed sustainable practices, will also hopefully become the easy and obvious choices for productions too.” [photo: Yvonne Witte] read more…
Nicola Knoch (Germany)
In January, we were very proud to host Nicola Knoch as a seminar leader, in our first Green Film Making Workshop of 2014. Her work as an on-set ‘sustainability representative’, strives to provide a more human and holistic approach to traditional film production methods, within a medium that has always been about human reflection at its core. read more…
Kathleen Courtney (USA)
Producer Kathleen Courtney has always been aware of the environment. But bringing this knowledge to the realm of her work practise from her personal interests -and in a meaningful way- was not always seemingly easy. When first faced with the idea of going green for her business practise, she was regarding the shift as a major intrusion and strain on business. read more…