Ecoprod presents award for green filmmakers

Ecoprod is a rapidly growing organization working to encourage the adoption of sustainable and ecological practices in the audiovisual industry, their main goal being to create a more environmentally responsible future.

For the past four years, Ecoprod has presented an award at the Cannes Film Festival, given to exceptionally sustainable filmmakers premiering their work to signifying that films can be sustainable and still showcased at the biggest film festival in the world. This year, there were 18 films in consideration for the Ecoprod award due to their positive ecological practices.

With such a wide range of impressive films, the Ecoprod jury chose to distribute three awards this year. The first award was dubbed the Special Mention award, and was presented by Ecoprod jury member Géralidine Toitot. Before announcing the winner, Toitot stated that this film was selected because it showed the world that “we can make cinema with a lot of heart, talent, and also by composting. They have been working on sustainability since the start of the project and they had a very clear sustainability plan.” It was also noted that this film appointed a Green Committee which served as a space for people working on the project to discuss and expand on sustainable practices. 

The coveted Special Mention award was given to the team of Amour Apocalypse directed by Anne Émond. As the team accepted their award, they tactfully stated that “We as humans do a lot of bad things, we’ve harmed the planet. But we’ve also done a lot of good things, and this is what we tried to do with this film. I believe that artists and filmmakers will have more and more importance in fighting for climate change and social justice.” Amour Apocalypse tells the story of climate anxiety, so the importance of the filmmakers being sustainable in the film's production was heightened as they had a much deeper understanding of the value of ecological stewardship.

The second award presented at this event was the Special Jury Award. It was fitting that the presenter of this was Mathieu Thill, who received the Ecoprod award just last year. As Thill stated, every little step and individual matters can change things in the fight for a more environmentally responsible future. The winner of the Special Jury award was the film Laurent dans le Vent. The producer of the film accepted the award on behalf of his entire team, saying “the whole team, which was a very young team, was very excited about this project and it was a very collaborative project where everyone shared ideas.”

The last of the awards was the Ecoprod award, presented by Maurice Barthélemy. Barthélemy remarked that we should use our egos to focus ourselves towards a better, more sustainable future. The Ecoprod award was given to the makers of Jeunes Méres. When accepting their award, the filmmakers acknowledged all members of their team who worked exceptionally hard to reduce their negative impact on the environment. 

Not only these three winners, but all eighteen nominees for Ecoprod awards should feel a great sense of pride in their commitment to bettering the film industry in terms of ecological impact.