The main and long-term objective of the GSID project was to give directions to the international film sales agents, members of Europa International, to reduce their carbon footprint to ultimately contribute to a more environmentally sustainable film industry. This objective was echoing both the European year of skills by upscaling the main target groups green skills and one of the horizontal objectives of the European Union: protecting the environment, fighting against climate change and reaching a carbon-neutral Union. The project aimed to raise awareness, improve green skills and build capacity among international film sales agents thanks to a series of workshops (PPTs available on EPALE platform) and interviews. The project also achieved its main goal to launch the guide “FROM GREEN GOALS TO GREEN ACTIONS: A Guide for Film Sales Professionals”. It is available on EPALE platform in English, French, German and Italian. It has been designed to highlight the key points and practices for reducing environmental impact in the film industry with a special focus on international film sales, in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, to reach a successful transition to climate neutrality by 2050.
The cinema industry is working on actions to decrease its carbon footprint and environmental impact. In Europe, producers and cinema exhibitors have been at the forefront of this shift by working on carbon calculation tools for production or initiatives for carbon-neutral cinemas. However, it felt that these initiatives were not fully adequate for the international distribution of films. International film sales agents specialize in financing films and in presenting them at festivals and markets abroad which entails numerous marketing, digital and print communication costs and travels - for films and people - all over the world. The “Greening strategies for the international distribution of European films” (GSID) project was created to guide sales agents in their journey to make their profession more sustainable. The project focused on the capacity building of international film sales agents to apply sustainable practices in different aspects of their work. Calculating their carbon footprint; evaluating and adapting office operations, event organization, business traveling, waste management and digital storage of films were some of the addressed topics.