Film4Climate at Cannes Film Festival

Industry heads pledge to reduce environmental impact of film.

by Anne-Katrin Titze

The Salt of the Earth directors Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders
The Salt of the Earth directors Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Donald Ranvaud, Film4Climate’s Creative Producer, and filmmakers including Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, currently featured in Wong Kar Wai In China: Through The Looking Glass), Fernando Meirelles (City Of God and The Constant Gardener), Pablo Trapero (White Elephant and Carancho), Atom Egoyan (Devil's Knot and Ararat) and Wim Wenders (Pina and The Salt Of The Earth with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado on photographer Sebastião Salgado) have joined forces with Cannes Jury Member and Connect4Climate Global Ambassador, Rokia Traoré; Ivan Trujillo, the Director of the Guadalajara International Film Festival; the CEO of the Ile-de-France Film Commission, Olivier-René Veillon; Publisher and Chief Editor of Green Film Shooting Brigit Heidsiek; Head of Training and Film Education of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund Siebe Dumon; the Chief Executive Officer of the Sardinia Film Commission and Vice President of the Italian Commission Association Nevina Satta; and Michael Geidel of Climate Media Factory and the Green Film Initiative, Potsdam.

They have pledged with more than 100 film industry executives and representatives to "reach a consensus on industry standards to reduce film production impact on the environment and raise climate change awareness through film."

Oscar-winning film producer Donald Ranvaud: “It’s time for a global creative and influential alliance to tackle the climate crisis."

Malian singer and songwriter Rokia Traoré: “Every day in Africa, we are facing climate change consequences. We have to make people aware that humans are simply one of the elements of nature. We have to be able to think not just about now, but tomorrow. What are our responsibilities concerning our children and their world? We are the ones responsible for that.”

Connect4Climate’s Program Manager Lucia Grenna: "We can unite the film industry to reinforce that we do care about the environment and are prepared to do something concrete about the dramatic issue of climate change.”

Olivier-René Veillon: “To have a sustainable approach in production is also the right economic approach.”

When I contacted Virunga director, Orlando von Einsiedel regarding Film4Climate, he responded: "It looks like a really interesting initiative. I’m going to read up on it."

And from Atom Egoyan: "I'm just finishing up my new feature, Remember, with Christopher Plummer. It will be ready in the fall. Thank you so much for supporting Film4Climate."

Film4Climate is an initiative of Connect4Climate (C4C), the World Bank Group’s climate communication program dedicated to driving global action on climate change, connecting and amplifying climate initiatives and activities, and creating social currency and political capital for climate action. It works with more than 230 partner organizations around the world, and is funded by the World Bank, the Italian Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea, and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

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