The second day of the 5th edition of the Nòt Film Fest in Santarcangelo di Romagna (23-28 August) opened with a panel dedicated to green cinema, moderated by event co-founder Alizè Latini. The debate saw the participation of Emanuela Venturini, representing the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Emilia Romagna (ARPAE), as well as bio-architect Gianni Terenzi of Distretti Ecologici, a leading Italian company in ecological transition and green building.

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Venturini's lengthy speech opened with an introduction on the vigilance, monitoring and analysis tasks performed by ARPAE and then focused on recounting the workings of Green Film, a mark of certification that rewards the environmental sustainability of audiovisual productions.

The initiative, which started in Trentino, was later embraced by the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission and received recognition from the Ministry of Culture and Cineregio. It is published in several languages, including English and Spanish.

It regulates the protocol behind obtaining the certification, which involves the production appointing a dedicated green film manager, drawing up a sustainability plan and selecting an auditing body to ensure its correct implementation. In addition to the sustainability plan, a transport optimisation plan must also be submitted before filming.

The areas of focus, Venturini explained, are six for drama projects, namely energy saving, transport and accommodation, catering, choice of materials, waste management, advertising and promotion. These are reduced to five for documentaries (without the 'choice of materials' chapter). In order to obtain certification, at least 20 points out of a maximum of 50 must be obtained for fiction projects, and 20 out of 40 for documentaries. In the case of prior European EMAS certification, the points to be obtained are only 15.

Among the various practices encouraged are the use of temporary connections instead of the common gensets; self-production of energy by means of mini photovoltaic systems; the use of LED lamps; the use of public transport, hybrid, electric or Euro VI; and the choice of accommodation within 10 km of the set, possibly EMAS or Ecolabel certified. With regard to catering services, there is a ban on the use of disposable plastic for cold and hot drinks (replaced by mugs, thermos flasks and cups); the purchase of coffee only in beans or powder form and not in capsules (not even eco-friendly ones) and the organisation of catering at local restaurants or, in the case of self-service meals, accompanied only by reusable cutlery, glasses and napkins.

Other good practices mentioned by Venturini are to encourage the re-use and recycling of costumes and set design materials, ideally to carry out all internal communications via online and/or telematic means, to print documents only on Ecolabel paper, and to promote green practices applied in the field also during the distribution phase, through mentions on the film’s press kits, dedicated posts on social media and other audiovisual content such as clips or backstage footage.

Among the most recent productions shot in the region that have been certified are the documentary Le favolose [+lire aussi :
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interview : Roberta Torre
fiche film] by Roberta Torre (22 points), the Italian-Chilean co-production La California [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] by Cinzia Bomoll (28 points) and the 'dark' fairy tale Le proprietà dei metalli [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film], directed by Antonio Bigini (31 points).

In the final part of the event, Terenzi emphasised how the importance of disseminating sustainability issues to as wide an audience as possible as well as the synergies between companies and other actors are key to achieving the goals set by the 2030 Agenda.