17/06/2015 - At its fourth edition, the green film festival in France presented a record number of movies

(l-r) Writer/producer Frank Hermes, and co-directors Heike and Christoph Siebert with the awards that they won for Edelhof1514 – Hausgemachte Köstlichkeiten

At the fourth edition of the Deauville Green Awards, about 50 trophies were given out to documentaries, corporate films and public-awareness campaigns that deal with ecological issues or sustainable approaches across all kinds of social sectors. “We are running this festival,” stated the gathering’s co-director, George Pessis, who founded the Deauville Green Awards in collaboration with François Morgant and Jean-Charles Pentecouteau, “because we want to show which ecological actions and sustainable development initiatives are taken by businesses, organisations, local communities and governments.” 

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At the event, directors and producers personally presented 280 documentaries, corporate films and public-awareness spots hailing from 22 countries, among them 140 films from France and 45 contributions from Germany. The Grand Prix for the Best Documentary went to the French film Vivre by Pierre Schumacher, which he shot with patients at a hospice.

The Grand Prix for the Best Public Awareness Spot went to Stromsparen rockt! (“Power saving rocks!”) by Andreas Grassl, which suggests to consumers that they use energy in a more efficient way. In the corporate film Edelhof1514 – Hausgemachte Köstlichkeiten, Christoph and Heike Siegert provide an insight into sustainable fruit cultivation. The title won a Gold Totem in the Agriculture and Green Economics category, and TF1 coordinator Catherine Puiseux also awarded the Hamburg-based team of filmmakers an Ecoprod Prize for the sustainable production of their movie. 

In order to inspire consumers to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviour, Cyril Point and Francesco Zingales developed the GreenApes app, which rewards green actions with discounts in stores that offer sustainably produced products. “We are planning to present GreenApes in additional languages,” reported Point. Technology and social media might also have a stronger impact at the Deauville Green Awards in the future: the festival directors think the Facebook community should also be able to vote for its favourite film, in addition to the jury. “We will launch public prizes,” outlined Pessis, “in order to generate bigger audiences for our festival films.”