The Vancouver International Film Festival’s (VIFF) Sustainable Production Forum (SPF) has grown since it began in 2016 and will run for two days at the festival this year.
Zena Harris, creative director of SPF and founder of Green Spark Group says they work with productions to reduce fuel consumption from diesel generators, use eco-friendly materials on set and find reusable props instead of buying new ones.
Harris says they help productions source wood locally or wood that has Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for set walls.
Green Spark Group and Keep It Green Recycling runs the Sustainable Lockup, which receives donated set materials that other productions can reuse for free.
Production crews are encouraged to adopt a three bin system — a green compost bin, blue mixed recycling bin and a trash bin because “80 per cent of what is discarded on a day to day basis can be recycled or composted.”
In 2009, Fox hired the Green Sparks Group, and began with ground breaking green production of the very popular TV show ‘24: Live Another Day’, using 100% FSC-certified lumber for set construction. In 2016, they were able to green The X-Files using only FSC-certified plywood on-set.
In 2017, they did it again with FX’s Legion, bringing that same level of ambition to going green behind-the-scenes.
In B.C. the activism around sustainable production started in 2006 with the formation of an industry organization called Reel Green but Harris says awareness continues to spread.
“I don’t know of any other festival that dedicates this much time to sustainable production. It’s unique, it’s growing and it’s really exciting to be able to bring folks together to share knowledge on the topic so that we can advance as an industry,” she says.
Article by: Melissa Shaw
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