Nina Hauser

The Austrian Film Institute goes GREEN – What role does green gilming take at the Austrian Film Institute?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted in 2015 by all 193 Member States of the United Nations as a universal call to action to fight poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity by 2030. The 17 SDGs recognise that action in one area affects outcomes in others and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. Green filming is clearly part of this. Internationally, green filming is a very big issue right now.

I also see our role as a funding institution as being a role model. That’s why we started in 2019 to gradually integrate the topic of sustainability and green filming more and more on many levels.

As an office, we also started the certification process this year to become an Eco Business Vienna operation.

Green knowledge is needed – As the Green officer, you are the Austrian Film Institute’s expert on this topic. Why is it particularly important to you that the Austrian film industry also becomes greener?

Since 2019, as Green Officer of the Austrian Film Institute, I have attended green filming seminars and webinars, panels, international conferences. I joined a green filming Working Group initiated by BMKOES. I was invited to join a ‚Sustainability Study Group‘ of Eurimage. I have built up a network of cooperation partners with whom I am trying to establish green filming with the highest quality standards more and more in Austria. I am currently completing my Green Film Consultant training at the LAFC – Lower Austrian Film Commission, with the expert Philip Gassmann, who is known beyond Austria’s borders, and am thus one of the first Green Film Consultants to be trained in Austria.

This concern is not one of my own. I have been assigned to work on the subject for the Austrian Film Institute. Apart from that, this must be a concern of an industry that is at the top of the list of industries worldwide that contribute most to environmental pollution (UCLA 2006, USA). Many international broadcasters, film productions, countries and film funding agencies are incorporating minimum standards into their policies. We have an EU-wide issue of having to become climate neutral by 2050 with the Green Deal. We are reacting to a change that must be supported with responsibility and that will keep us competitive in the future and secure Austria as a film location.

Step by step in the right direction – With the amendment of the guidelines and the introduction of the final report ‚Green Report‘ (production) and the possibility to develop a ‚Green Concept‘ (project development), the Austrian Film Institute is making a significant contribution to the climate protection goals. What does this mean for funding applicants and are you already considering further green measures in the Austrian Film Institute?

The guidelines amendment and introduction of a final report (Green Report (HE) and Green Concept (PE)) is an important first step. The developed action guidelines are online and guide through the process from submission to completion.

This will enable us to work together with the industry over the next few years to implement the measures and integrate them in such a way that they become a matter of course in Austria as well. The transition phase is planned until 2023. What does this mean in concrete terms? The final report should summarise what is planned/can be achieved/not achieved and why not. In this way, we create the opportunity to try things out, introduce them slowly and take the pressure off having to implement everything at once.

The initial additional costs can be calculated and are eligible for funding. I can only recommend the further training currently offered free of charge by the LAFC to everyone, because without further training the changeover will not succeed.

There are many considerations on my part – as I said, this topic is a very complex one and this year in particular the events and innovations are coming thick and fast. I will continue to observe internationally and, of course, take further measures if the Austrian Film Institute sees the need to do so.

Green Filming Tirol – What opportunities and possibilities do you see in connection with green filming for Tyrolean filmmakers and Tirol as shooting location?

Of course, I am not an expert on the Tyrol as a film location as such, but I think that with green filming in particular, the faster you can implement it, as already mentioned above, you can strengthen competitiveness and thus the film location.

Please help – Your green tip for film producers!

I do not presume to give tips to film producers.

What I can recommend, however, is to deal with the topic of green filming at an early stage and to train a green film consultant for the production, because this is obligatory (according to the Austrian Film Institute guidelines/catalogue of measures) for films funded by the Austrian Film Institute in the future in order to guarantee a quality standard of implementation.

In conclusion, I would like to say that green filming has added value on many levels – only together and in solidarity can the conversion succeed – cooperation and exchange, also learning from each other, is very important to me

Contact:

Austrian Film Institute
Mag.a Nina Hauser
Tel.: +43 1 526 97 30 303
Mail: nina.hauser@filminstitut.at
www.filminstitut.at