Throughout this summer the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is hosting a series of free bike-related movie screenings downtown at 7th and Mission Streets, right across from the Good Hotel. Once a month the hotel’s barren parking lot is transformed into a festive and inviting public space, where hundreds of people gather for free entertainment, socializing, and to eat tasty locally made snacks.

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According to reports, the DVD cases will be made with 20% less plastic, and the paper will be 30% post-consumer recycled content. They’re also doing away with any cardboard outer sleeves. From Green Biz:

By switching to the lower-impact packaging, Sony Pictures expects to reduce its annual carbon emissions by 2 million pounds by the end of the year.

Changes to packaging for DVDs and CDs obviously has the potential to lead to widespread impacts due to the sheer volume of discs being produced, shipped and sold.

Other movies, like eco-friendly kid film Wall-E have been released with more sustainable packaging in the past, and we’ll likely see more of this in the future.

Luckily, there are some wonderful food- and wine-related films that tell us more about the seductive interplay of food and wine, cooking and canoodling, elation and exhaustion than some pumped-up TV “chef” screaming into the camera.

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California’s historic Fairfax Theatre claims that it will be the first major movie theater in the United States to install a solar power system to help cover its energy costs. *

In addition to supplying clean energy, it will save the theater’s owner about $627,000 over the estimated thirty year life of the 42 unit system. Over that time it will also eliminate the production of an estimated 1,000 tons of greenhouse gases.

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Editor’s Note: This post was provided by one of our paid sponsors, Earth Cinema Circle, the only DVD club dedicated to increasing social & environmental awareness through entertaining films. Written by Ariellie Ford.

Behind America’s 99-cent hamburgers and 72-ounce sodas is a key ingredient that silently fuels our fast-food nation — Corn. In KING CORN, we meet two college buddies, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who move from the east coast to the heartland to really learn where their food comes from.  They relocate to northern Iowa, home of their great-grandfathers, with a mission.  They will plant an acre of corn, follow their harvest into the world, and attempt to understand what all of us are really made of — Corn. This entertaining and informative film is now available from Earth Cinema Circle.  The following is from an interview with Curt Ellis, co-producer of the film.

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Source:  Ananova 

But hey, I’m at Sundance.

For the next ten days I’ll be on the lookout for films and panels pertaining to biofuels or the planet. It looks like Josh Tickell, the well-known author of From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank (who’s primarily responsible for the biodiesel homebrew movement in the last decade) has a film this year. It’s called Fields of Fuel.

I’ll also be collaborating with a colleague here to finish a short documentary we filmed last year called Veggie Truck. If it isn’t totally embarrassing (I haven’t watched the footage in almost a year) I’ll be posting it here.

Until then, I’ll be watching movies and fighting off frostbite.

The expert cinematography of Arctic Tale captures an age-old tragicomedy with a new and unsettling twist. Ardent lovers, defiant youth, unmitigated kindness, and sex jostle with death, solitude, violent battles, and the turbulent upheaval of a mighty and ancient kingdom. The drama unfolds around a polar bear and a walrus—children of rival families in a strange and beautiful world of unicorned whales and a cold sun. What we as an audience do not see until the movie’s end is how intimately we are entwined in the plot.

The film makes no overt mention of global warming until the very end. By sidestepping the link between this phenomenon and mankind, the film smartly avoids the emotional recoil of those who still have difficulty coming to terms with our species’ influence on our environment. Rather than confront the issue from the human perspective, the film simply documents the dramatic effects of warming in the far North. Only after the film closes does the focus again return to the human world with suggestions about how each of us can reduce our impact on the climate.

Except for our role in climate change, the rest of the film is devoid of any human presence. The filmmakers are quite successful at documenting a world that is largely unknown to most people. They share some of the most intimate moments of the film’s protagonists. We are taken beneath the water to see Seela nursing at her mother’s belly and inside of a polar bear’s cave, where Nanu bears cubs of her own. If we judge the movie solely on the merit and skill of its documentary filmmakers, it lives up in every way to the masterpiece, March of the Penguins. Most of the soundtrack also sets a solitary, sentimental, almost indie feeling that is perfect for a film “at the edge of the world.”

However, instead of recreating the epic drama of March of the Penguins, this film was marketed toward a much younger audience. Queen Latifah’s playful, sassy narrating tone resonates with the “cute and cuddly” theme of the movie poster, which was clearly aimed at drawing parents and children. Those who come with the expectations seeing another March of the Penguins or An Inconvenient Truth may be disappointed to find a younger target demographic.

Still, making stories of the natural world accessible to children is perhaps the best way to instill in them the importance of caring about our impact on the environment. The success of theatricals like The Lion King and television stars like Jeff Corwin are hopeful signs that the genre of Nature-Adventure will soon open wide enough to appeal to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. By more regularly glimpsing the natural world, we are able in some sense to remember our part in it.

The magic of the movies is that we leave the theater feeling like the hero or the heroine of the film. As the credits roll and we stand up from our plush, popcorn-scented seats, we take with us the intrepid bravery of Indiana Jones or the humble tenacity of Frida Kahlo. But rarely do we leave the theater feeling like a polar bear or a walrus!

I left the theater on a chill, cloudy Seattle afternoon. The shifting of loose brick under my feet transported me back to the arctic, where thin ice was crumbling beneath thick paws.

The moviemaking business has a very large environmental footprint. Idling production vehicles, construction of elaborate sets, extensive lighting needs and a crew of hundreds who all need to be fed and transported are just a few of the contributing factors to the un-enviromentally friendly aspects of the film and television industry.

The UCLA Institute of the Environment's annual report last year found that when compared to other top industries in California, the film and television industry tops the list in air pollution and green house gas emissions. The problem, the study suggested, was that each production is a short lived entity and doesn't have to think of long term supply chain effects that face other types of business and industries.

Most U.S. states and major U.S. cities have a film department, which are usually part of the mayors office to facilitate film productions. Many provide assistance in acquiring permits, location scouting, and hiring local professionals, but very few offer additional incentives for going green or even contain info with practical, money saving tips on being more enviro-friendly.

New Mexico is an exception with their Green Filmmaking Program. The initiative is simple. It is a voluntary program that offers guidelines for productions that want to lessen their footprint. The film office has compiled helpful information on the use of alternative materials and green practices such as recycling, purchasing local products, donating set materials, leasing hybrid vehicles, getting biodiesel for generators, and other waste reduction techniques. They also offer additional tax incentives for productions that follow these guidelines.

New York City, a popular filming destination for movies and TV shows, has recently announced NYC: Green Screen, similar to New Mexico's program offering tools and practical guidelines for shooting greener in NYC.

New Zealand, another moviemaking hotspot (Lord of the Rings triology) features Greening The Screen, an environmental toolkit for productions. The main motivation there is to lessen the impact on New Zealand's historical and cultural heritage, but also to help the boost the country's economy.

The Environmental Media Association presents the Green Seal Award for productions that strive for enviro-friendly practices on and offset as an added incentive for green recognition.

There are some films that will go carbon neutral with out any help from a voluntary program, and others it just makes sense for them to do so, like An Inconvenient Truth. But there is a lot of room for improvement in this multi-billion dollar industry. Maybe Leonardo Dicaprio can extend his efforts to greening his workplace.

Further reading:
Digital Content Producer

The directive issued by the State Environmental Protection Administration, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage now requires approval from authorities before any shooting or set construction can begin, and calls for proper restoration of the affected areas.

The regulation came about after Chinese director Chen Kaige was fined 90,000 yuan (11,600 USD) for environmental damage caused by the making of his movie The Promise (budgeted at $35 million USD). Chen was then nominated for a "Green Chinese" award, which is given to those who have made a significant contribution to the environment. The government sponsors of the award defended their decision to include Chen in their selection because the controversy surrounding the environmental damage of his film led to a greater awareness of environmental protection.

China's nature reserves cover only about 15% of the country's total land area, and performances and filming will still be allowed peripherally around these sites. The fine for offenders is 500,000 yuan (62,500 U.S. dollars) and 1 million yuan(130,000 U.S. dollars). Some critics note that these fines are not much of a deterrent considering the costs of making a film often run upwards of several million dollars.

Via China Daily; China Daily/BizChina
and TreeHugger; Yahoo News