There are 18 production houses that will be supported in their ecological transition process this year, announced the Quebec Cinema and Television Bureau (BCTQ) on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the first annual meeting of the On tourne vert program.
This measure, financed for the second year in a row by the Cultural Enterprise Development Corporation (SODEC), which injected $150,000 into this nine-month training plan, aims to accelerate the implementation of the eco-responsible measures provided for in the framework. of the We turn green certification, which has its green book and its guide to good practices.
“With the 15 producers who were trained last year, there are 33 producers who will be familiar with eco-responsible ways of doing things,” said BCTQ President and CEO Christine Maestracci. In addition, these producers receive a grant at the end of their training for their next production. »
Launched three years ago as a tripartite initiative led by the Quebec Cinema and Television Bureau (BCTQ), the Quebec Council for Eco-Responsible Events and the Quebecor Group, the On tourne vert program is origin of the certification of nearly 90 productions.
Around 150 producers, broadcasters, filmmakers, animators, students and other members of Quebec’s audiovisual industry participated on Tuesday in a day of reflection and discussions aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of film sets as much as possible.
The On tourne vert certification will also extend to visual effects and animation studios, Christine Maestracci confirms. “We need to think about ways to reduce the footprint of these studios, particularly by rethinking the digital equipment that is used, such as servers, which are very energy-intensive. »
Christine Maestracci regularly repeats that the audiovisual industry is much more polluting than one might believe. “A feature film is the equivalent of 10,000 round trips from Montreal to Toronto by plane,” she likes to say to illustrate the carbon footprint of a film set.
Think about alternatives
Several broadcasters were present for this first “Rendez-vous” which Christine Maestracci wishes to repeat annually. Among them, Radio-Canada demonstrated the initiatives it has put in place.
“Over the past year, we have certified four in-house productions, including Discovery, Carbon And The grocery store, confirms Emmanuelle Lamarre-Cliche, General Director, Operations, Transformation and Sustainable Development. Externally, 11 productions were certified, the latest being the show Zenith. »
In a report prepared by Radio-Canada, which makes a “carbon assessment” of its productions, the most polluting activities were calculated, Emmanuelle Lamarre-Cliche tells us. This concerns transport (land, sea or air), materials (sets, batteries, food) and energy consumed, in particular by generators (lighting, mobile filming, canteen, etc.).
“We are in the process of replacing all alkaline batteries used by sound recordists with rechargeable batteries,” gives Emmanuelle Lamarre-Cliche as an example. We need to think about alternatives. Diesel generators are very energy-intensive and very polluting. If there are poles and we operate for a long period, we could come to an agreement with Hydro-Québec. »
The content director at TV5, Jérôme Hellio, also underlined the importance of the equipment used on film sets, mentioning electric generators or those powered by solar energy – just like his colleague Gilles Couturier from Quebecor, who spoke about the recent certification of Cheater and of Revolution.
Jérôme Hellio spoke to us in particular about the documentary series Emergency climatewhich will be hosted by Vincent Graton, and which documents the climate emergency in different countries around the world.
“The challenge,” he explains to us, “is that this documentary required a lot of plane travel since we were moving from one country to another. We therefore had to make small gestures, such as leaving in a small team, with light equipment. Once there, we favored the most eco-responsible transport. There is also compensation, with carbon credits, so we have put in place measures with producer Philippe Burnet, from Dixit. »
A period of transition
If the BCTQ’s objective today is to deploy the On tourne vert program to as many producers and broadcasters as possible, its president and CEO does not believe in imposing standards.
“We are still in a period of awareness, mobilization and transition. There must be incentives, assesses Christine Maestracci. Public funders like SODEC, Telefilm Canada or the Canada Media Fund all have eco-responsibility objectives, so it’s one of the things that the industry wants to put forward anyway. »
Jérôme Hellio believes that there is collective work to be done to document the carbon footprint of productions, by genre (documentary, fiction, etc.). “But in the end, we need incentives, perhaps in the form of tax credits, but it requires an industrial structure, because it costs more to produce green, even if we share the same objective. »
reference: www.lapresse.ca