The Green Film Forum, an international conference hosted by the Fundació Mallorca Turisme and the Mallorca Film Commission, will present the latest green trends and innovations applied to the audiovisual industry. The three-day event that takes places from October 18 to 20, 2024 in Palma de Mallorca, brings together industry and sustainability experts from all across Europe.
Among the topics on the agenda are training, the use of eco-friendly equipment in film production as well as green guidelines, which have already been successfully implemented in different regions in Europe. A key role plays the financing of green measures. Energy and resource effiziency as well as circular economy are relevant in the film and media production. Moreover, these requirements also appeal to the operation of cinemas and events such as festivals.
The Green Film Forum will be kicked off with a masterclass on sustainability in the audio-visual sector. Pedro Barbadillo, director of the Mallorca Film Commission, talks with Birgit Heidsiek, founder of the European Center for Sustainability in the Media World, about strategies and solutions in the differnt fields of the media industry.
The use of eco-friendly practices in cinemas as well as festivals is a topic that Javier Pachón, operator of the local CineCiutat cinema in Palma de Mallorca and Teresa Morales de Álava, director of the Punto de Vista Festival will discuss on the second conference day. The community cinema is already powered with renewable energy since many years. The international documentary film festival, that takes place in the congress center in Navarre, also works on the decrease of its carbon footprint.
An insight in innovative solutions which are particularly developed for the film and TV industry, will be given by Mike Zimmermann, managing director of Lichthaus, that also successfully hosted the first Green Tec Day during the Berlin International Film Festival in 2023. An innovative solution for set designers developed Tom Henderson with his British company Vectar Project. The award-winning Vectar Boards are much lighter than massive wooden panels so that it is possible to build, rearrange and transport the sets faster.
The implementation of practical measures in film production from planning and procuremnt to shooting up to the disposal of material will be outlined by Alissa Aubenque, project manager at Ecoprod, who gives green training workshops for producers. As a producer at Calista Films, she pioneers the creation of narratives that inspire a more sustainable and desirable future.
Different aproaches, systems and certifications for sustainable film productions will be discussed by Luca Ferrario, project manager of the Trentino Film Commission, and Christiane Scholz from the MOIN Film Commission in Hamburg, which introduced the Green Shooting Card as the first green label for film production in 2012. Moreover, Fernando Bigeriego from the Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute (ICAA), and Benjamin Vanhagendoren from Wallimage in Belgium, will speak about the financing options of green film production.
The Green Film Forum takes place at two locations in Palma de Mallorca. The event hubs are the sustainable operated Casa Esment as well as the Hotel Zoëtry, which is located in Llucmajor. A shuttle service with electric vehicles will provide the transport to the event locations. Ther is no conference fee charged for the Green Film Forum but registration is required.
“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.
The Green Film Forum will be kicked off with a masterclass on sustainability in the audio-visual sector. Pedro Barbadillo, director of the Mallorca Film Commission, talks with Birgit Heidsiek, founder of the European Center for Sustainability in the Media World, about strategies and solutions in the differnt fields of the media industry.
An insight in innovative solutions which are particularly developed for the film and TV industry, will be given by Mike Zimmermann, managing director of Lichthaus, that also successfully hosted the first Green Tec Day during the Berlin International Film Festival in 2023. An innovative solution for set designers developed Tom Henderson with his British company Vectar Project. The award-winning Vectar Boards are much lighter than massive wooden panels so that it is possible to build, rearrange and transport the sets faster.
The Green Film Forum takes place at two locations in Palma de Mallorca. The event hubs are the sustainable operated Casa Esment as well as the Hotel Zoëtry, which is located in Llucmajor. A shuttle service with electric vehicles will provide the transport to the event locations. Ther is no conference fee charged for the Green Film Forum but registration is required.
Robert Redford
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Hannes Jaenicke
Nic Balthazar
Nadeshda Brennicke, Actress
Darren Aronofsky, Director, Noah / Jury President, 65th Berlin International Film Festival
Tim Bevan
Thekla Reuten
Rachael Joy
Nikola Rakocevi
Nadja Schildknecht
Michael Bully Herbig
Lars Jessen
Helen Hunt
Douglas Trumbull
Dieter Kosslick, Director Berlin International Film Festival
Benoit Delhomme
Jeremy Irons