[Filmfestivalresearch] REMINDER: Roundtable on Greening Film Festivals at 2-4:00 PM EST, Thursday, January 13

[Ger Zielinski]

On Greening Film Festivals: A Roundtable on the Environmental Impact of
Film Festivals and Their Future Design and Operation. 7th Film Festival
Research Seminar at 2-4:00 PM EST [Toronto], Thursday, January 13, 2022.

Organized by Dr. Marijke de Valck (Utrecht/NL) and Dr. Ger Zielinski
(Toronto/CA).

Be sure to register (free of charge) in advance to receive the Zoom link
at  https://ryerson.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NmhWWv5YR7KqtNxaoBZxaw

Hosted by The Creative School Catalyst.

Now in the shadow of COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference) and as the global
pandemic recedes, it is time to consider the future shapes and flows of
film festivals in relation to the reduction of their environmental impact.

This international roundtable brings together several film festival
organizers and scholars not only to compare notes on the general impact of
festivals on the environment and the important initiatives that have taken
place at the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) and San Sebastián
International Film Festival (Basque Country, Spain), but also to anticipate
future directions for festivals, among other types of events. around the
world as the effects of climate change become more pressing and cultural
policies begin to require corrective action.

Any event demands an investment in and exchange with its material
environment. Film festivals are no different, for example, they require the
transportation of their guests. The more important or prestigious the
festival, the more air travel is taken for granted, but this creates a
significant carbon footprint – How might such travel be mitigated without
denting the festival’s identity? Similarly, other aspects of the material
festival as an event are also important, such as the recycling of ephemera,
electric lighting, heating, cooling, and so forth. Furthermore, the nascent
subfield of environmental media studies aims to create new methodological
and theoretical frameworks for the study of the material environmental
consequences of media of all sorts – How ought energy sources themselves be
taken into account when considering online video streaming or internet
cloud storage? Energy sources range from, e.g., coal to nuclear to wind,
yet each has a very different impact on the environment. As post-pandemic
film festivals continue to explore online delivery, this question becomes
pressing.

The Locarno and San Sebastián festivals are quickly becoming models for
others to consider and adapt to their own situations. The roundtable
participants will contribute their knowledge and expertise to help inform
and shape the film festivals to come.

Short biographies of participants (in alphabetical order):

Rachel Dodds is a Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and
Tourism Management at Ryerson University. She has over 25 years of tourism
experience and still works actively with industry in her role as a
consultant to help the tourism industry become more sustainable. The
website https://greenfestivals.ca/ stems from her collaborative research
initiatives on greening festivals.

Laura U. Marks works on media art and philosophy. She led the research
group Tackling the Carbon Footprint of Streaming Media and is founder of
the Small File Media Festival, www.smallfile.ca. Marks teaches in the
School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

Fabienne Merlet is Head of Communication and Marketing at the Locarno Film
Festival. After graduating in Applied Languages and Translation, she now
attends a part-time Executive Master in Corporate Communication at
Rotterdam School of Management. She led the conception of the festival’s
first sustainability report in 2021.

Amaia Serrulla holds a BA in Audiovisual Communication from the University
Pompeu Frabra, Barcelona She has worked at the San Sebastián International
Film Festival since 2011 and is currently Head of the Documentation and
Films Department. For six years she was a member of the Selection Committee
at Festival and since January 2020 she has been Head of the Thought and
Discussion area, where, among other projects, the project focused on the
transition towards sustainability of the festival has been developed.

Marijke de Valck is Associate Professor of Film and Media studies at
Utrecht University. Her research deals with transnational media cultures,
media industries and art cinema. She co-founded the Film Festival Research
Network, co-edits the festivals review section in NECSUS, and has published
widely on the topic of film festivals.

Ger Zielinski is principal investigator of the SSHRC research project
“Buffering Online and Off” on video streaming culture, festivals, and their
environmental consequences and is co-founder of the SCMS Film and Media
Festivals Scholarly Interest Group. He lectures in The Creative School at X
(Ryerson) University in Toronto.

We wish to acknowledge the generous support from The Creative School
Professional Communication and The Creative School Catalyst, Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), The Film
Festival Research Seminar, and the Toronto Film Festivals Research Group.


Ger Zielinski, MA, MFA, PhD (he/him)
Professional Communication, Ryerson University*
350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3 Canada (by post)
RCC 325A, Rogers Communications Centre, 80 Gould Street (by courier/office)
https://www.ryerson.ca/procom/people/ger-zielinski/

Principal Investigator, SSHRC Insight Development Grant "Buffering Online
and Off"

"IN-SYNC OR NOT: Reflections on the Proliferation of Online Film Festivals
during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic" (2020, ZfM)
https://www.zfmedienwissenschaft.de/online/open-media-studies-blog/sync-or-notonline


**In August 2021, the university announced that it would begin a renaming
process to reconcile the legacy of Egerton Ryerson for a more inclusive
future. *

We acknowledge that Toronto is in the 'Dish With One Spoon Territory’. The
Dish With One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and
Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land.
Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have
been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and
respect.