THE SETS WILL TURN GREEN

The “Green Sets Are Possible Initiative,” which aims to reduce waste in the film industry, outlined the paths to eco-friendly cinema at the Golden Orange Film Festival.

The 62nd International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, mindful of its historical responsibility, not only supports cinema but also champions the ideal of a more sustainable cinema worldwide.

The “Green Sets Are Possible Initiative,” launched to prevent waste in the film industry and ensure that cinema can be produced in an environmentally friendly manner, was a guest at the Golden Orange Film Festival.

At Hotel Su, initiative spokespersons met with festival attendees; environmental engineer Işıl Aslan, civil society expert Yeşim Girgin, and cinematographer Ersin Gök shared the current state of the film industry with figures and their predictions for the future.

“We have greatly accelerated the transformation the world has undergone in the last 200 years,” said Işıl Arslan, noting that according to data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established by the United Nations, the world must not exceed the 1.5-degree target over the next 20 years to remain salvageable, and that everyone has a role to play in this.

Yeşim Girgin pointed out that, to date, environmental solutions have only been implemented in permanent facilities, adding, “There are no sustainable solutions for mobile businesses like cinema, which do not have a fixed workplace and are constantly changing according to the script.” Ersin Gök highlighted that the film industry produces much more waste than is commonly believed, sharing the following figures:

"It is estimated that one hour of television content produces 5.7 tons of carbon. On the other hand, there is environmental waste, and we can actually reduce it quite easily. For example, we can reduce plastic bottle waste by using water dispensers, which we are all familiar with. We are talking about a thousand plastic bottles a day, and if we multiply that by 100 sets, we are talking about 100,000 bottles. Even if we can't save all of them, we can easily save 70-80 thousand. The Turkish film industry produces 3.5 million waste PET bottles in just one month. We're not even counting the water left in the bottles!

There is food waste. No place accepts it for recycling. However, I learned by chance that a machine has been developed in our country to make cat and dog food from food waste. We have now prepared the infrastructure for this; we took a sample from a set. We sent it to the Ministry of Agriculture and Istanbul University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and we received approval from them. The nutritional value was very high.

On the other hand, we are thinking about how we can use solar panels on sets. I found a manufacturer in France that makes foldable solar panels. We thought about sewing them onto fabric, and we are currently using this fabric-sewn solar panel in the set. It produces 2kW of energy per hour, but next year it will be 4kW, and the year after that, 10kW. The beauty of this is that it can be folded down to half or even one-third its size, and, if you want, it can be used on the cars in the set.

It's not easy to make the practice widespread. Because, as Ersin Gök pointed out, “Producers are very afraid.” However, a solution has been thought of for this. According to Yeşim Girgin, brands will use this for PR, and tax breaks may also be possible in the future. Girgin, who says this is becoming a criterion abroad, stated, “Now, even when applying to festivals in the US, UK, France, and Germany, they ask you for information about sustainable sets. Soon, this will also become a criterion in Turkey.”