“Going green is no longer a matter of choice”, stated Nevina Satta, CEO Sardegna Film Foundation at the panel discussion Sustainability in Vision that took place at the Majestic Hotel during the Cannes film festival. Hosted by Green Film Shootingand Cine-Regio Green in collaboration with the Italian Film Commissions and Cinecittà Luce, at this event various European experts from Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain exchanged their experience with sustainable Film/TV production and green cinema.

Luca Ferrario, Project Manager, Trentino Film Fund, presented the brand new initiative T- Green Film that will be launched in September. The Trentino Film Fund is launching a new tool to promote environmental sustainability in the film industry. Production companies shooting films or TV series in Trentino can adopt the T- Green Film rating system that will guide them in all the stages of their work towards more sustainability. The film fund will give the productions financial incentives for their green actions. “The companies can choose during the application phase how many green points they intend to obtain”, explained Luca Ferrario.

The green measures include energy and transport, selection of materials as well as catering. The actions will be monitored by the environmental protection agency, APPA (Agenzia Provinciale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente) in the different stages of production. If the scheme’s criterias are fulfilled, the Trentino Film Fund will reward the company with an incentive.

“What Trentino is doing is very unique in Italy”, commented Nevina Satta. “They are pushing existing institutions to work together with their film fund to put together the certification. That is a great best practice. It is the first time that something like this has been done for the audiovisual industry. It is a big step forward for the overall perception of the public administration in the territories.” In Italy, sustainability also has tradition since tourism is an important industry for the whole country. Keeping our environment very controlled is a key element.”

The Sardegna Film Foundation launched the Heroes 2020 Project, which supports films that treat sustainability issues and that follow green production guidelines. This fund already backed about forty short films and web series. pilots as well as more than twenty short films. Furthermore, there is a film training program for kids. “We teach them to be green filmmakers”, said Nevina Satta.