European funds and Film Commissions target a joint sustainability strategy
Great Britain: A National Standard for Sustainable Production
In terms of sustainability, the British film industry holds a pioneering role in Europe. Melanie Dicks of the environment agency Green Shoot has advised more than 20 film productions on environment-related issues, among them Anna Karenina and Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows. Green Shoot was also involved in the development of the national standard BS 8909 for sustainable filming in Britain. The specifications outlined in the BS 8909 standard, which combines and coordinates all national activities within the framework of the greening film initiative, have been adopted by the British Film Institute (BFI). In South East England, the regional film subsidy agency Screen South plans to create incentives for green filming . At a meeting of the North Sea Screen Partners network during the summer of 2012, Screen South director Jo Nolan announced the creation of a subsidy fund for green productions with EU funding.
BBC and BAFTA
The public service broadcaster BBC has ambitious sustainability goals, such as a 20 percent reduction in energy use. They created the carbon calculator Albert that has already been adopted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in 2011. Albert has been further developed and is available as a free online tool for calculating CO2 footprints.
Ireland: Guidelines for Green Production
The Irish Film Board has prepared a Green Production Toolkit for film and television productions that can be downloaded from its website free of charge. The Toolkit contains practical measures that can be implemented by any production company. The information is tailored to meet the needs of various departments in a production and it addresses all areas, including cinematography, wardrobe, make-up, special effects, and transportation.
Belgium: on an E-Mission
In the small film country Belgium ecology and sustainability are a big issue. The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) requires that every production applying for funding must submit a carbon footprint for their project. VAF is the first film commission to tie the approval of funds to the environmental engagement of a production. In its e-Mission handbook, the Flanders Film Commission provides a comprehensive address book of green service providers, among them environmental consultants and carbon offset projects.
France: the Green Media Consortium Ecoprod
The Ecoprod initiative was created in a concerted action by nine partners, including the French film commission CNC, television stations such as TF1 and France Télévisions, and the environmental agency Ademe. The consortium, in addition to a Green Production Guide and a set of guidelines for sustainable production, has developed Carbon Clap to determine the CO2 footprint of film and television productions. EcoProd’s CO2 calculation software is based on the Bilane Carbone diagnostic tool that is used to assess emissions for consumer goods in France. It uses different emission factors than the British model does, so neither carbon calculator is functional all over Europe.
Europe: Cine-Regio has plans for all-region CO2 calculator
The Cine-Regio network, a group of 38 film funds from 15 European countries, is discussing measures to establish ecological and sustainable production standards in the film industry in its Green Production subgroup. A top priority is the development of a CO2 calculator that can be used for co-productions in all European regions.
Film Commissions strive for uniform Standards
The European Film Commission Network, which represents 80 European film commissions from 24 countries, advocates a common sustainability strategy and unified standards on a European level. A specific goal is the establishment of an online communication platform and a database containing information about all green film production companies and service providers in Europe.
“The time for half-measures and climate denial is over. Unless we move quickly away from fossil fuels, we’re going to destroy the air we breathe, the water we drink, the health of our children, grandchildren and future generations. If we’re going to avoid the worst of the impacts, then we’ve just got to act boldly. And we must act immediately."
Robert Redford
Actor, Director, Producer, Environmentalist
"The media has a powerful role to play in the fight against climate change. Through films, television, and all media outlets, we must continue to deliver the message that solutions are out there and are happening now. We have to make it attractive for people to take action. Movies like Avatar, The Day After Tomorrow, and documentaries like Years of Living Dangerously, which I was proud to be a part of, have been very popular, reaching and inspiring millions of people. And I believe films in particular can really inspire and make people want to take action. It’s great to see some of my film-industry friends working with climate related organizations to push forward those messages."
„It‘s high time to reorganize film production in Germany in a ‚greener‘ and more sustainable way. So far, I am flabbergasted by how much our industry works in environmentally harmful ways.To this very day, it starts with until today one-sided print-outs of scripts, and then it continues with plastic bottles in production offices and lots of plastic waste with every catered meal, and it doesn‘t stop with the limousines that pull up to a red carpet.
For many years, people have sneered at me when I brought my own cup or I declined to eat cheap meat served on paper or plastic plates with plastic knives and forks. It would be great if the Green Shooting Card could change all that.“
Director (Ben X, Time of My Life)
„It’s absolutely great that filmmakers all over the world are trying to clean up their act, and are trying to film as sustainable as we possibly can. Still, I think we shouldn’t underestimate the incredible power of the moving image to also change the hearts and minds of people.
So, apart from trying to be more environmentally aware in our business, I think the big gain lies in how we might make everyone more environmentally aware. Yes, cinema can change the world.
I think filmmakers should start using the powerful weapon in our hands that is the camera.
Let’s not only try to do ‘less bad’. Let’s try to do right, and help drive the change that we all know needs to arrive.“
“We are living in a time in which we can’t afford to behave irresponsibly towards nature. The more important is it that film productions try to work as environmentally friendly as possible. A film team produces every day tons of garbage. I try to avoid using plastic cups on set, I bring my own cup, use ecofriendly cosmetics and avoid needless single rides.”
Photo ® Maddalena Arosio
Darren Aronofsky, Director, Noah / Jury President, 65th Berlin International Film Festival
“When we did Noah we knew we were making a film about the first steward of the earth, so we wanted to be good stewards ourselves. There’s so much waste on film sets. Because of groups like Earth Angel, we were able to change that a little bit.”
"As a TV and film producer I try to incorporate environmental storylines into my projects as much as possible. But it’s just as important, if not more, to ‚go green‘ behind the scenes! Therefore, I help run the Producers Guild of America’s Green Initiative.
We provide resources such as a Best Practices and a Carbon Calculator to help producers green their productions. We also partnered with all the major studios to create www.greenproductionguide.com which is a free green vendor database with over 2,000 vendors offering sustainable production solutions worldwide!"
‚Green screens excepted, we will do everything in our power to be as innovative as we can in order to make our production as green as possible.‘
Photo: (c) herbXfilm Dieter Mayr
Lars Jessen
Director (Fraktus, Dorfpunks, Am Tag als Bobby Ewing starb)
‘It is somewhat embarrassing that green filming is only now becoming an issue in our industry because there have long since been many possibilities to shoot more efficiently.
Technical innovations such as energy efficient lighting are as much a part of this as the awareness of every crew member.’
‚I do work with a company in the States called Sungevity that leases solar panels to homes. They figured out how to move forward environmentally and how to make it economically successful.
So that’s my small but steadfast global contribution. I think everybody doing a little bit is all that’s made any difference, ever.‘
Producer, Director and Visual Effects Supervisor (2001: A Space Odysee, Blade Runner)
"Trumbull Studios in Massachusetts is dedicated to being green as much as possible, including the use of LED lighting, solar power, and solar laptops. This is not just because our location has limited amperage and no three-phase, we believe we have a responsibility to our community and our planet to be a clean industry.
We are planning for digital photography in 3D 4K at 120 frames per second from remote and inaccessible locations that will not have available power. Solar is the way to go."
Dieter Kosslick, Director Berlin International Film Festival
„The Berlinale is already actively addressing the sustainability subject since years. We appreciate it very much that a growing number of filmmakers, among them this year‘s jury presiden Darren Aranofsky, is following green guidelines on set.“
Benoit Delhomme
Director of Photography (A Most Wanted Man)
‘I never have been told precisely what the rules are for shooting a green movie, but we are trying to do it. This is something new for me. Sometimes people overlight scenes at night. I don’t. If I can see with my own eyes, then it is enough for the film. In that sense I am a green DoP.’
Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons who stars in the Berlinale Competition entry The Night Train To Lisbon is a fan of source segregated recycling. „Especially in Germany you have done a lot for that. You are examplary in the matter of waste separation.“
The Hollywood actor travelled around the world to promote the environmntal documentary feature film Trashed by Candida Brady which deals with the global garbage problem: „We buy it, we bury it, we burn it and then we ignore it“, says Brady. „With Jeremy Irons as our guide, we discover what happens to the billion or so tons of waste that goes unaccounted for each year.“
Since the world premiere at the International Cannes Film Festival in 2012 Trashed picked up various nominations and awards at international festivals.