Let’s Go Green

The Festival dei Popoli, for 64 years spokesperson for the changes taking place in the world, together with many other Italian and international cultural realities, makes its contribution to the fight against climate change and, more generally, to sustainable development. Embarking on a path of ecological transition, the festival sets itself the goal of reducing the environmental impact of the initiatives implemented throughout the year and of flanking its film promotion activities with the adoption of conscious and sustainable practices. 

The sustainable management of events, together with the awareness of these issues that has always guided our selection of documentary films, aims to reduce the negative impact on the environment and leave a positive legacy for all those involved, in the spirit of the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it contains.

For these reasons, the Italian Institute for Social Documentary Film is committed to realising cultural events and to organising the work of employees and collaborators in compliance with the most up-to-date 'green' practices, in line with the directives shared at national and international level, and to raising its audience's awareness of responsible behaviours, not only through a programme of films on this theme, but also through practical actions. 

In the spring of 2021, the first 'Festival Green' working table was set up by AFIC - Associazione Festival Italiani Cinema of which the Festival dei Popoli is a member and an active part. The AFIC Association has gathered the interest of its members on the theme of sustainable events and, starting from the early months of 2022, the “Guide to Green Festivals” has been finalised and distributed, a practical and operational document that contains concrete advice, divided into thematic areas, that festival organisers can draw on to guide their activities and to reduce the environmental impact of their events. 

The following are the areas of action identified by AFIC to make their festivals more environmentally friendly and the related measures implemented by Festival dei Popoli:

1. Sustainable Mobility: We facilitate with clear information on the site and in the programme the reachability of the initiative locations by public transport and activate conventions with public transport companies Trenitalia and Autolinee Toscane for reduced fares.
2. Sustainable Energy Consumption: Thanks to our partnership with  Treedom, a platform that allows anyone to plant trees in different countries around the world, we have created the Forest of the Festival dei Popoli: a place where all cinema and nature lovers can contribute to enlarge by helping us offset part of the CO2 emissions produced to realise the event.
3. Printing Materials: We have reduced the use of paper for promotional materials and, as of 2022, we have decided to dispense with the printed version of our Official Catalogue in order to publish it in digital format, downloadable from our website, and to use sustainable materials.
4. Outfittings and furnishings: We design and produce layouts that can also be used in subsequent years.
5. Waste Management: In the offices and festival venues, in agreement with the exhibitors of the cinemas, the system of separate waste collection is also adopted.
6. Gadget production: In agreement with ABC Gadgets, the badges of them DIVE project and of the 64th Festival dei Popoli for guests, journalists, staff and jurors are made of Eco-Card material: a 100% compostable, biodegradable and, above all, plantable artisanal paper that incorporates seeds in its mixture to give life to small plants. Thanks to the collaboration with Mymovies.it, we produce all merchandising with recyclable and/or recycled materials, developing new gadgets for the Festival, including shopping bags made of recycled material and reusable water bottles with the 'Festival dei Popoli' and 'Mymovies.it' brands. From 2022, our gadgets will bear the Festival dei Popoli logo, in which the current edition is deliberately not specified.
7. Guest Management: We prefer to use the train for regional/national travel. The use of aeroplanes is basically limited to international travel and island connections. In order to reduce the impact on the environment, we provide for the use of electric cars and encourage the use of public transport for transferring guests to and from the railway station and airports. The accommodation facilities of the Festival dei Popoli are located close to the event venues and within walking distance of both guests and the public.
8. Food Sustainability: At networking events on festival days, we always offer a selection of organic wines and a proposal of DOC, DOCG and/or Km 0 wines (also sponsored by local companies); we ensure that water is served in glass bottles; we make sure that dishes are served and consumed with reusable tableware or, where this is not possible, with biodegradable and compostable disposable tableware
9. Training and Communication: This page is specifically dedicated to communicating the actions undertaken by the Institute for Sustainable Transition during the event.
10. Environmental Culture and Social Sustainability: The partnerships with Publiacqua, Trenitalia, Treedom e Mymovies.it contribute not only to reducing the Festival's ecological impact, but also to raising the public's awareness of environmental knowledge and protection.
    • With Publiacqua we promote the use of public water and awareness of the damage caused by wasting water; we propose a selection of films, in the "Habitat" section, that raise awareness of ecology and sustainable economy issues.
    • With Trenitalia we encourage a more sustainable way of travelling by train;
    • With Mymovies.it we produce a recycled cotton shopping bag as a gadget without the edition number;
    • With Treedom we created the 'Festival dei Popoli Forest' to start offsetting some of the CO2 emissions associated with organising an event.