Save the Earth
Did you know that a single plastic bottle takes 500 years to decompose, it takes around seventeen trees to make a tonne of paper, and a leaking tap can lose around 36 litres of water per day?
In the era of climate change and the impending ecological catastrophe, the dry numbers show all too clearly that we can only save the planet by taking constant care of it.
The organisers of the Krakow International Green Film Festival 2019 tackle environmental issues for the second time (18-25 August). Located at the Czerwieński Boulevard, the festival village presents almost a hundred free screenings of documentaries, features and animations submitted from filmmakers from all over the globe to compete for prizes made from recycled bottle tops(!).
The festival kicks off with a Green Five 5k run along the Vistula Boulevards. On the same day we will see films dedicated to climate change, including Matthieu Rytz’s documentary Anote’s Ark screened during the main competition at the Sundance Film Festival; the film tells the story of the Kiribati archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, under threat from rising sea levels. Films shown on the following days explore issues of pollution of rivers, water shortages, animal farming, disappearing species, environmental disasters and excessive consumption and production of waste; the latter is explored by the moving documentary Welcome to Sodom (dir. Christian Krönes, Florian Weigensamer) whose protagonists work at a huge garbage disposal facility in Ghana.
The festival also includes numerous lectures, debates and workshops. The organisers promise we won’t go hungry with a selection of delicious organic dishes served as part of the Vege Fiesta. The programme also includes celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Nowa Huta, Kraków’s greenest district, and screenings of films prepared especially for the occasion by the Krakow Festival Office. And that’s still not all! In the autumn, the Green Film Festival sets off on a journey across Małopolska presenting films by winners of this year’s festival.
(Justyna Skalska, “Karnet” magazine)