Bernardo Bertolucci To Head Jury of New Fest Dedicated To Climate Change (EXCLUSIVE)
Bernardo Bertolucci will head the jury of the Film4Climate Global Video Competition, a new festival dedicated to shorts intended to raise climate-change awareness around the world.
The fest, which is an initiative of the World Bank’s Connect4Climate program, will be unveiled this May 16 in Cannes at the Plage Royale.
The venerable Italian auteur, whose “The Last Emperor” won nine Oscars, will preside over a large group of prominent jurors which includes U.S. producer Lawrence Bender (“Pulp Fiction”); British-American documaker Robert Stone (“Pandora’s Promise”); Finnish filmmaker Mika Kaurismaki (“Zombie and the Ghost Train”); Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who is the only Pakistani to have won two Oscars (“Saving Face,” and short “A Girl in the River”); Argentine director Pablo Trapero (“The Clan”); and Carole Tomko, director of productions at Paul Allen’s Vulcan Prods.
Vulcan Prods, known for making pics such as “Ivory Rising,” about the illegal ivory trade, is the exclusive production partner of the fest. Italian clean energy utility Enel is an official sponsor.
The competition is open to filmmakers between 14 and 35. All entries must be under five minutes to qualify.
It calls on filmmakers to explore Climate Action, which is the 13th goal under the UN Sustainable Development Goals, exploring what people and communities around the world are doing to promote action, offer solutions and inspire positive change to combat climate change and its impacts. Filmmakers are encouraged to use personal narratives that explore fundamental questions such as: “What does climate change mean to me?” “What actions am I taking to mitigate the advance of global warming?” “What is my Climate Action message to the world?”
Winners will be announced at an official awards event at the COP 22 climate summit in Marrakech, Morocco in November 2016.
Connect4Climate has also partnered with the Cannes Film Market to underscore the power of documentaries to raise Climate Change awareness during the mart’s first ever Doc Day conference on May 17, at Cinema Olympia 1 in Cannes. The confab is hosted by the Marche du Film in tandem with the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms. Lucia Grenna, who is Connect4Climate Program Manager, will deliver the Doc Day closing keynote address, focusing on the interaction between creative industries and climate action.
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