Documentaries are going green

At the Sheffield Doc/Fest and Documentary Campus a panel discussion will focus on the sustainable production of documentaries. Documentaries are often dealing with sustainability issues such as biodiversity, climate change, energy use or the conservation of our oceans and planet earth. But documentaries films can also be produced sustainably behind the camera by reducing their carbon footprint during the entire production process.

 

How to green a documentary will be explained by British producer Paul Bradshaw, whose recent  productions include Wonders of the Monsoon and Earth’s Greatest Spectacles. The green measures of these BBC productions were avoiding the use of generator power by using a relay of battery porters from the nearest mains grid point as well as use of local camera operators and local providers of camera equipment.“

 

In Germany, Film Comissioner Christiane Dopp from the Filmförderung Hamburg-Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH) already issued more than 70 Green Shooting Cards for several production formats, among them are also several sustainable produced documentaries. A film that qualifies for this green label is Power to change by writer/director and producer Carl A. Fechner who runs the production company fechnerMEDIA. „We avoided to take any planes and travelled by bus, train and electric car“, reports Carl A. Fechner.

 

The green documentary panel will be moderated by Birgit Heidsiek, Publisher of Green Film Shooting. The event takes place in Sheffield at the ITV Town Hall Reception, Room A, on June 14 at 12am.

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