Green Screen Day IDFA 2015

Amsterdam, 26-11-2015, IDFA International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam. Lecture Thomas Rau. Photo Nichon Glerum

On 26 November 2015 Green Film Making hosted another edition of its Green Screen Day in collaboration with IDFA. Four documentaries with a broadening view on social and sustainable issues were selected for screening; with introductions and Q&A’s by special guests. Green Film Making also invited architect and innovation specialist Thomas Rau for a special lecture: “Our being is temporary, the consequences are permanent.” Rau analysed and discussed the steps we have to take to turn sustainability into durability and presented a model for a new economic system. Read a detailed report of his talk here (in Dutch).

About Thomas Rau:
Entrepeneur, architect, innovator, inspirator and visionary. There is a lot on the plate of Thomas Rau, who has since many years been giving significant input into the field of sustainability, renewable energy sources and architecture as well as to how to deal with the current lack of raw materials. With his architectural firm RAU he has developed multiple innovations in the field of carbon-neutral, energy-neutral and energy positive construction and recently also for circular architecture. In everything he does he let’s himself be guided by what will be needed in the future instead of what is feasible today and he shows with great enthusiasm that our energy crisis can actually be solved. Plenty of renewable energy, it’s just a matter of the right attitude.

The films that were presented in this years edition were:

Salero – dir Mike Plunkett

Moises is one of the last ‘Saleros’. On the Salar de Uyuni, worlds’ largest salt plane, he runs a small salt business in the old ways of his forefathers. Underneath his feet, in the blinding white ground, something else is hiding that could elevate Bolivia’s poor population into relative wealth: lithium. Bolivia has 35% of the worlds recourses of lithium, the building block of most rechargeable batteries. It’s the Green Saudi Arabia. But, is the world’s need for a green solution to transport worth the destruction of this unique environment and the ancient way of life that lives on it?  Lithium for thought.

Els Rientjes (Green Film Making) did a short introduction and afterwards a Q&A with Marnix ten Kortenaar.

About Marnix ten Kortenaar:
Are those lithium batteries really such a good solution? Ex-professional ice skater Marnix ten Kortenaar, now better known for his company Dr Ten, develops batteries made of sea-salt. He doesn’t like the hype surrounding Tesla and the Powerwall home battery that much. Because why is nobody looking at the source of what is in these batteries? His plans are big. By 2020 half a million sea-salt batteries should be installed in homes. Preferably assembled in the Netherlands. A sea-salt battery has a longer life, is cleaner and cheaper than a lithium-ion-battery. On top of that, it is 100% recyclable and non-explosive unlike it’s lithium cousin. A different view on salt.

Banking Nature – dir. Sandrine Feydel & Denis Delestrac

What do you think about first with the color green, nature or money? Banks have now sniffed out what seems to be the last untouched territory, the environment. It was here before us, but somehow it makes sense to some of us that we can also put a value on things we did not and cannot produce ourselves. But is the term ‘Green Economy’ really an oxymoron, or is the best idea to save the environment? In ‘Banking Nature’, this idea is explored, hearing both sides of the argument. If the financial sector can be enticed to invest in saving the environment, what happens when there is no profit? Will we take our final dive into black?

Q&A was with Elfrieke van Galen:
Elfrieke van Galen knows a lot about Green Economy. As partner with TheRockGroup she works to speed up the transition to a sustainable economy through consultancy and entrepreneurship. She also has a seat in the Dutch Emission Authority that monitors the CO2 emissions in the Netherlands. In the past she has been Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility with KLM. A question about the intersection of nature and economy? Ask Elfrieke.

from Land Grabbing – Kurt Langbein

Land Grabbing – dir. Kurt Langbein

Who owns the earth? Apparently, he (or she) with the most money. Since there is no end to our growth doctrine but there is an end to the amount of available land, we are now entering a third cycle of colonialism. And this time it is disguised as ‘sustainable farming schemes’ or ‘EU anti-arms programs’. Because if it sounds right is must be, right…? From Ethiopia to Cambodia, Romania and Indonesia, ‘Land Grabbing’ gives insight into new business ventures where cheap land is wriggled out of the hands of local communities to produce with a capital P. This fight for available land is based on the misconception that bigger machines feed larger amounts of people. On the contrary, in this film it becomes clear that farming with crop rotation on a small scale, is much more sustainable to feed all of us. Keep things small and in your own backyard.

from Racing Extinction – Louie Psihoyos

Racing Extinction – dir. Louie Psihoyos

Welcome to the Antropocene, the age in which earth and its natural environment has started to significantly alter through human activities. In ‘Racing Extinction’, humanity is compared to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaur: Rooftops spilling over with thousands of drying shark fins; Manta rays on the verge of disappearance because of a medical superstition; The unanswered call of a very last bird of its species; Our daily living arenas slowly sinking into an invisible mist of carbon dioxide. Not a pretty picture. But exactly this picture might be able to open our eyes. Instead of serenading the end, there is still too much to fight for. It’s too easy to say “too late”. It’s too late to say “tomorrow”.

The film was followed by a panel discussion led by Els with special guests: documentary filmmaker Renée Scheltema, engineer Ward Hupperets and social entrepreneur Tom van de Beek.

v.l.n.r. Els Rientjes, Ward Hupperets, Renée Scheltema en Tom van de Beek. Foto: An de Ridder

Renée Scheltema has been making documentaries for TV for 25 years, mainly as a one-woman crew. A constant theme in her work has been sustainable development and the protection of the environment, which has culminated into her latest feature documentary called Normal Is Over on the big picture of what is happening to the planet, through an environmental lens. From practical everyday fixes to rethinking the overarching myths of our time, this film is intended to offer hope. Renée is the embodiment of getting up from your lazy chair and doing something.

Ward Hupperets is Lead mechanical engineer for Spectral Utilities (Metabolic), a cleantech development and systems consulting firm based in Amsterdam. They design and implement holistic and replicable systems by advising industries, governments, and the non-profit sector on how to transition towards a circular and sustainable economy. Ward specializes in developing modular solutions for basic needs provision, in other words, bringing the best sustainable solutions within reach for anyone.

Tom van de Beek is a man wearing many hats. Since years he has been a sustainability front man and social entrepreneur and has started different ventures and blossoming projects in and outside of the Netherlands, for example The Tipping Point and Bushwick BV – Impact Consulting. Having built a professional career in the fields of business, communications and development he has now crystallized his mission to catalyse conscious, sustainable communities across the globe. Inspired by nature he is also an active member of several organizations and is passionate about wild unbridled nature and the connection of humanity in modern society. He is also co-founder of the Strawberry Earth Film Festival.