The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Green Film Festival
Byre Theatre, St Andrews, February 12-20
Thanks to David Attenborough showing us seas of plastic on Blue Planet, it seems the balance of awareness about environmental issues and what we can do to help has shifted a little more in 2018. For those who want to know more, events like St Andrews’ Green Film Festival, now in its fifth year, present a good opportunity to find out.
“This year we’ve tried to pick films along the theme of hope, to encourage people to be aware of what’s going on in the world, but to do it in a more lighthearted way,” says Karyn Stewart, lead coordinator of the group of St Andrews University students who are putting the mini-festival together.
“We have a really interesting programme this year, they’re some of the top environmental-themed films from festivals around the world and all very up to date. We look for ones we’re interested in seeing ourselves.”
On February 15, the first of four films screening will be Food Evolution, which is narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson and looks at the subject of genetic modification in food with a clear and unbiased view, advocating neither for or against it from the start.
The following evening features Andreas Johnsen’s Bugs, in which a team from Nordic Food Labs explore the possibility of eating insects as an alternative food source; there will also be a chance to do some bug-tasting yourself.
Saturday, February 17’s screening is of Reuse! Because You Can’t Recycle the Planet, Alex Eave’s trip across America examining the many innovative ways in which people are recycling their rubbish, with a talk from the Edinburgh Remakery re-use hub afterwards.
Finally, the Sunday brings How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change, Academy Awardnominated director Josh Fox’s exploration of human resilience in the face of climate change.
“After all of our films we’re going to have various speakers coming along, who have a key interest in a theme related to the film, so we’ll have some interesting discussions going on,” says Stewart. “We’ve also got our first art exhibition at the Byre, which people can submit to, and our open-entry short film competition the Leafies, for films in whatever medium the filmmaker likes, from stop-motion to documentary, as long as it’s between one and 10 minutes.
“Then on the closing night, Tuesday February 20, we have a panel discussion with speakers from the RSPB, Young Friends of the Earth Scotland and the University of St Andrews, discussing a controversial question – are we right to be hopeful about the future of the environment? Hopefully we’ll be able to end the festival with a positive answer, but let’s wait and see…”