The cinema wants to be green from the red carpet to the garbage in a room

Ecology is not a fashion, but a necessity.

And although the cinema, like the rest of the industries, suffered a setback during the start of the pandemic in its commitment to caring for the environment, the entire sector has returned to the fray.

Either for philosophical reasons and for a fighting conscience in the face of global warming, or because in the end business is business: aid in this field has increased and many Next Generation funds (those granted by the EU for economic recovery after covid- 19) are linked to careful environmental care.

However, the four legs on which cinema is based (festivals and award ceremonies, production,

distribution and exhibition) have not progressed at the same speed in reducing their impact on the carbon footprint (the trail of greenhouse gases left by human activities).

And that was made very clear during the last Cannes festival, where the message was clear: cinema will be green, or it won't be.

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Cheat with the carbon footprint

There is no other film event in the world that brings together more people than the French contest.

More than 40,000 accredited participants from the film market, journalists, artists and the entire entourage that accompanies them.

After the cancellation in 2020 and its celebration at half gas in 2021, in this edition, which returned to its usual dates of celebration in May, there were 11,000 more accredited than in the previous one.

The organization, days before the 75th edition started, announced online 12 measures aimed at minimizing its environmental impact.

Among them, the disappearance of paper for all types of press brochures (in general, the use of paper was reduced by 50%), that in the fleet of official vehicles there were up to 60% hybrid or electric cars,

... In 2021 they had increased the recycling of their garbage by 31% (they reached 95%).

And many of the ecological actions went hand in hand with economic saving decisions: even before the pandemic, the Palace's red carpet was changed three times a day.

Now it is kept the same for the 12 days of the contest (eliminating 1,200 kilos of garbage at a stroke) and is later recycled for manufacturing companies.

The first festival that adopted measures in favor of the environment was Sundance.

In 2010 the organization EMA (Environmental Media Association) advised its organizers.

Its CEO, Debbie Levin, told Cannes that in the distant year 2000, when they started, no Hollywood studio considered "ecological policies".

Today they all have departments designed to make their productions sustainable.

“And the shoots are easy.

Much more complicated is a festival, where there are people with very different needs from very different places”, she pointed out in France at a round table.

She thus pointed out the weak point of these events: travel.

Filming last week in Estella (Navarra) of 'La voz del sol', by Carol Polakoff (in the center), with Carmen Machi and Karra Elejalde. Jesús Diges (EFE)

According to Eduardo Viéitez, CEO of Creast, a company dedicated to sustainability in cinema, "the impact of mobility accounts for between 75% and 85% of the carbon footprint of festivals."

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) points out that a private

type Gulfstream G550, with capacity for 18 passengers, emits 40,823 kilos of CO2 from Los Angeles to Nice (and there is still the limousine ride from Nice to Cannes).

On the same route, a commercial flight emits twice as much, 81,646 kilos, although, obviously, with many more passengers.

The plane

It is the most polluting transport with 285 grams of CO2 per kilometer and passenger (with an average of 88 passengers).

The car emits 104 grams (1.5 passengers per vehicle);

the motorcycle, 72, and the train, 14 (156 passengers).

"At Creast we have similar tables for our collaboration with the San Sebastian Film Festival", explains Viéitez, "and thus we determine the emission of each visitor to the event according to the means of transport used".

In this table it is clear that the shared electric car is the best choice.

“It is an industry that wants to be green and at the same time does not want to give up luxury hotels or private

.

It can't be," says Viéitez.

“There are already sustainable airlines that explore new fuels or offset their carbon footprint.

Of course, the train should be the chosen transport.

This company is also in charge of the Goya awards, whose last gala in Valencia reduced greenhouse gas emissions from mobility by 55% and those from

by 40% .

“In total, more than 100 tons of greenhouse gases have been avoided.

The next step will be to offset the carbon footprint emitted to turn the gala into a neutral emission event”, they say from the Spanish Film Academy.

"90% of the attendees used the train instead of the plane or private transport, and to reduce mobility, hotels near Les Arts [where the gala took place] were selected."

A contest in San Sebastián with neutral emissions

From the San Sebastián festival, Amaia Serrulla,

of the contest and head of the Department of Thought and Debate, points out that they have been working on ecological improvements for some time.

“An advantage is that of our attendees, 178,000 spectators and 4,300 accredited, most of them are from the city.

We are aware of making, for example, the energy transition.

Last year we measured the footprint with respect to 2019, since that of 2020, due to covid, did not seem representative to us.

And that report serves as a guide for further actions”, explains Serrulla.

“During the nine days of the festival, 4,852 kilograms of waste (mainly paper and cardboard) are generated, of which 9% is reused and 76% recycled.

This section is, along with mobility, the greatest environmental challenge to face, and it involves the elimination of single-use products”.

"The red carpet of San Sebastian will continue to be recycled and reused as bags"

On the other hand, television, advertising and film shoots have progressed at a better pace in their ecological soul.

At the Cannes market, American producers praised the Green Production Guide, an

created to reduce the environmental impact and carbon footprint of cinema, television and platforms, developed by the Producers Union (PGA) through its ecological committee, and the Sustainable Production Alliance, founded by Hollywood studios.

“It is important”, says Viéitez, “that we understand that digital also leaves a carbon footprint.

Not everything is solved by not printing or making digital connections”.

And one of the most visited stands in the market belonged to the Belgian company The Green Shoot, which was looking for ecological solutions for absolutely any detail of a shoot.

"In Spain, the ICAA [the body of the Ministry of Culture in charge of cinema] has acted quickly in adapting its regulations for productions and festivals, compared to other countries," they say from Creast.

Distribution and exhibition are yet to come.

In Spain, the distribution of the French film

by Laurent Cantet, at the end of April by the company Golem has been a pioneer in applying a neutral emissions campaign with measurement and compensation of the carbon footprint, in a strategy developed by Creast.

For this, the energy efficiency of its headquarters or the use of low-consumption electronic equipment was taken into account.

It is estimated, in the absence of the final measurement, that the carbon footprint was reduced by 51%.

As for movie theaters, another great workhorse appears there, since the carbon footprint generated by premises and their spectators has not yet been quantified.

However, the process is not complicated because it resembles that of festivals.

Viéitez assures: “We need each worker, each member of this industry to internalize individually applicable ecological measures.

Only then will the cinema be green”.