First green production in Latvia

In Latvia, sustainable film production started rolling. At the Creative Europe MEDIA conference in Riga, the production team from Juris Podnieks Studio presented Jelgava ’94, the first film in Latvia that was produced as environmentally friendly as possible. Inspired by Green Film Shooting’s Shades of Green panel discussion at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, producer Antra Cilinska and Elizabete Palasiosa decided to shoot the first green film in Latvia.    
“We set us goals that we can reach”, explained producer Elizabete Palasiosa who acted as green runner on set. One goal was to reduce waste as much as possible. The team used second hand props for the decoration while single-use dishes and bottles were banned. In order to avoid food waste they ordered simply less. Instead of the normal calculation, the amount of food was reduced from 100 to 85 percent which worked well. “It is all about changing your attitude”, underlined Antra Cilinska. “Going green is a process.”  
 
    In addition to the communication in the early stage of production, during the 27 shooting days of Jelgava ’94 two lectures on sustainability were hold on set. Every day, a green tip was given to cast and crew. In total, the production saved 15,000 kWh energy, 1,576 l fuel and more than 4,180 plastic water bottles. Jelgava ’94 is the first Latvian production that received a Green Shooting Card by the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein.   Photo: © GFS

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