And the winners are… “La Chimère”, by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, and “Acide”, by French director Just Philippot. Six days before the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, these films, also competing on the Croisette, were awarded the Ecoprod prize this Sunday.
For Pervenche Beurier, the general delegate of this ociation which accompanies the environmental transition of the cinematographic and audiovisual sectors, “this award is an example”. “This shows that it is possible to make very good films, present at the biggest festival in the world, taking into account environmental issues”, explains this historian by training, fair and short hair.
280 members
At 43, this native of Le Havre intends to unite “the greatest number of professionals, because a single job cannot make things happen”. And to evoke the film sets, “mini-cities, with carpenters, canteens, control rooms…”. To date, Ecoprod has 280 members, including production companies (such as Banijay, or Mediawan, etc.), broadcasters (France Télévisions, TF1, Canal+, etc.) as well as institutions, schools or technical service providers. As many members whose cumulative turnover exceeds 16 billion euros.
Once past the high m in Cannes, Pervenche Beurier will go to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where Ecoprod will present its guide for a low-carbon cartoon. “The one on filming in natural environments will follow in July”, indicates the one who defines the ociation as “a place of consultation, just as much as a huge toolbox”.
From eco-designed decorations to electric transport
Among these tools, there are training courses intended for members and intermittent workers. And a carbon calculator, approved by the CNC, making it possible to evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions of a work. Not to mention the Ecoprod label, based on criteria “ranging from eco-designed decorations to electric transport”, which is currently being tested by around sixty productions.
Behind the scenes of this industry, Pervenche Beurier knows them well… In addition to the fact that she is the author of “European Film Support Policies”, published by L’Harmattan in 2004, this youngest of three children, daughter of doctors , has worked in cultural diplomacy, independent cinemas and video production, on both sides of the Atlantic.
The French Emby in Washington
On the “prize list” of this history graduate, who also went to Sciences Po, and unconditional of “all cinemas, general public, silent, New Wave…”: experiences at the French Emby in Washington or at the French consulates in Toronto or New York, within the Europa Cinemas cinema network, at the Institut Lumière festival or even at MobilEvent, to which we owe a prize for short films made from mobile phones.
“I like immersing myself in all forms of work,” she sums up. With the added bonus of “an acute awareness of climate issues”. As proof, this former WWF and LDH volunteer, trained at the Desirable Futures Institute, challenged herself to “almost zero new purchases, for my two children and myself”.
” War machine “
“His energy brings together various players, including competitors”, gauge Chloé Rossignol, the CSR manager of Banijay in France, who is also a member of the board of directors of Ecoprod. And to add that “Periwinkle wishes to move forward in ‘war machine’ mode on a transformation still in its infancy”.
It is precisely to “give a strong impetus” that the interested party pushed in favor of the change of status of Ecoprod, created in 2009 in the form of a collective. A bet that pays off, according to her, since “since it became an ociation, in 2021, the growth phase has been rapid”. And the one who claims to be as pragmatic as tenacious, to ensure that “there are no constraints when you are creative”.