A festival offering documentary films dealing with sustainable development, nature and ecology while promoting the many personal initiatives: this is the objective of the Green Film Festival, taking place in Switzerland, France, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. The 18th edition of the festival started on Saturday at the castle of Yverdon-les-Bains.
Various screenings
In Switzerland, screenings take place throughout Romandie, the city of Bern and Ticino. More than 60 different films and documentaries are to be discovered. For example, the short film by Dutch director Ton van Zantvoort “A World to Shape” which talks regarding the questions of two designers regarding the production of objects that make up our daily lives, while raw materials are running out.
On the side of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the film “Amuka, the awakening of Congolese peasants”, directed by Antoniò Spano, highlights the Congolese agricultural cooperatives blocking the malnutrition of the country.
>> To watch: the trailer for the film “Amuka, the awakening of Congolese peasants”
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show hope
For Nicolas Guignard, director of the Green Film Festival, “the color of this year’s edition is hope. We show personal initiatives that propose to do things differently, with less impact on the environment, for example in the field of textiles and low-tech technology. These are often small alternatives, but they exist. These ideas might sow and grow in importance. We hope that the multiplication of these local initiatives will have a positive effect “, he explains to the RTS.
For him, in a rather difficult global context where many countries are struggling to assume their responsibilities in the climate crisis, the Green Film Festival takes on its full meaning.
>> To listen also: “The 18th Green Film Festival ready to hatch” in the program Côté Jardin
“Rewild, nature takes back its rights”, the favorite of the selection committee
The French film “Rewild”, directed by Alexis Breton, Cyprien d’Haese and Thomas Zribi, talks regarding the notion of “réenauvagement”. Chosen by the selection committee as the main film of the festival, it will be widely screened in the five countries.
“Rewilding is a scientific way of reapprehending a biotope and understanding why nature does not work as it should, explains Nicolas Guignard. We try to restore a region or an area to its original natural state by introducing the elements missing like a predator or certain plants.”
A method that works quite well according to the documentary, shot on four different continents. “In Siberia, for example, the reintroduction of bison has slowed the melting of soil and permafrost due to global warming.”
Interview by Aleksandra Planinic and Philippe Girard
Adaptation web: Myriam Semaani
Green film festival, in cinemas in French-speaking Switzerland, Bern and Ticino, until April 9.
