Eisvogel awards resource efficiency on set

On the occasion of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Eisvogel – Prize for Sustainable Film Productions awards ceremony took place for the forth time. The 2025 winners were two productions in which a swimming pool is the central motif. The 20,000 euro prize in the main category went to the TV production Für immer Freibad. This ZDF commissioned production impressed the jury above all with its mobility concept.The good friends Filmproduktion offered to transport the cast and crew’s private bicycles to the central filming location in the small town of Forst in Brandenburg. There, the bikes were used to travel from the shared accommodation to the various filming locations. This saved carbon emissions, as car journeys were reduced to a minimum. The shared bike rides also strengthened the team spirit. Further energy savings were achieved through the efficient use of lighting and camera technology.

"High energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and waste of resources are still a major problem in the film industry," explains Jochen Paleit, Chairman of the Heinz Sielmann Foundation. "That’s why we award the Eisvogel Prize to courageous filmmakers who take on the challenge of finding more sustainable concepts and solutions." The nominated productions competing for the Eisvogel Award 2025 in the main category also included various international productions. Among them was the music documentary The Song Cycle by Nick Kelly, who completed a concert tour to the Glastonbury Festival by bicycle together with his cameraman. Nick Kelly and Séan Millar performed songs from their film at the awards ceremony.

From the US comes the feature film Mother Mary, the first international production to use the ISO 14067 standard for accounting. The Hollywood production was represented on stage by the German co-producer Jonas Katzenschein from Augenschein Filmproduktion and the green consultant Roman Russo, who was in charge for the carbon calculation with the Green Toolkit software. Meanwhile, Swedish producer Ronny Fritsche traveled by train to Berlin. At the Zentropa Sweden production Kevlar Soul, he made sustainable requirements part of the contract for cast and crew. As a particularly environmentally friendly measure, the production designer developed a method so that the walls in a rented apartment did not need to get new wall papers after production wrapped.

“The many strong productions submitted for this year’s competition impressively show how many filmmakers are addressing the climate crisis and fulfilling their own responsibility for sustainable production conditions," emphasized Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth. "An award that reflects the sustainable commitment of the film industry and that shows with the award-winning productions in an exemplary manner: climate protection is feasible – and concerns us all. Because a future without climate protection is inconceivable!"

The €5,000 prize for young talent was awarded to the student production No More Pool Time by Sebastian Sicker and Jonas Baumann. Saving resources was already a topic that they tackled when they wrote the script. In order to use the precious resource of water particularly sparingly, various methods of reusing the water required for the various filling levels were considered. This requirement was met with the help of an installation of an additional pool into which the water was pumped. As main location for the student production at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy served a private home, where a large part of the electricity was produced by a photovoltaic system on the rooftop. The location was also easily accessible by public transport.

"We have to manage our resources according to the principles of the circular economy in order to comply with the planetary boundaries," emphasized State Secretary for the Environment Christiane Rohleder. It is also important to convey appropriate guiding principles through content. “The apocalyptic images of the fires in Los Angeles were like a disaster movie," Claudia Roth emphasized. The USA’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and President Trump’s “Drill, Baby, Drill” announcement are leading to a "Burn, Planet, Burn". "We see in the USA how closely democracy and climate protection are linked," emphasized Claudia Roth. "We must be pioneers in climate protection and must not fall back into the fossil age."

Photos: © GFS, Sebastian Sicker