As in (almost) every year since 2014, the Greenmotions Filmfestival once again opened its doors to cinema and sustainability enthusiasts at Kommunales Kino at Alter Wiehrebahnhof from November 5th to 9th, 2025. This year, we have once again chosen a special topic to which we devoted particular attention in part of our program: “Closing the loop: living within Planetary Boundaries” addresses the question of how wasteful, linear lifestyles and economic practices can be overcome and replaced by circular lifestyles that enable a good life for everyone on a planet with finite resources.
With over 900 visitors over five days, numerous sold-out events, and a diverse film program, the festival was a resounding success. Thank you all for coming out in such large numbers, and thank you to all our sponsors and partners who made the festival possible. In this blog post, we would like to look back with you on the highlights of the last few days:
(Still from “wer wenn nicht du” winner of the audience award by Rosa-Lena Lange and Charlotte Weinreich)
Wednesday, November 5
Right from the first day, there was a lot going on at Kommunales Kino: over 70 people came to watch the film “wer wenn nicht du” (who if not you) by Charlotte Weinreich and Rosa-Lena Lange, as well as the short film “DARIO – How to (not) change the world” by Christian Belz, which deals with the question of what kind of activism is legitimate and promising in times of the escalating climate crisis. The film was followed by an exciting discussion with Charlotte and Christian, as well as Jannis Niethammer and Karl Braig, the two protagonists from “wer wenn nicht du.” This film was so well received by the audience that it was immediately voted the winner of the audience award at the end of the festival. Congratulations!
Thursday, November 6
The second day of the festival began with Dominic Allen’s film “Planet Wind: The global story of Offshore Wind”. Despite the early hour, nearly 50 guests were in the cinema auditorium, following the film on its journey to offshore wind farms around the globe. After the film, there was an exciting Q&A session with Nelly Kirsch from the City of Freiburg’s Environmental Protection Agency on the expansion of renewable energies in general and wind energy in particular in Freiburg and the surrounding area.
In the evening, the official opening ceremony of the festival took place as part of Rubén Abruña’s “Holy Shit”. Camillo and Carlotta from the organizing team guided the nearly 70 guests through the evening in the packed cinema. After the film, which was also the first item on the program for this year’s special topic, Rubén, Undine Löhfelm, publisher of the book accompanying the film, and Andreas Doerne from the Holistic Compost Lab in Sankt Peter were guests and shared exciting thoughts about how we deal with human waste and how we could use it as a resource.
Friday, November 7
With almost 170 guests, the festival really got going on the third day. The day opened with the film “Lost for Words”, a meditative collage by Hannah Papacek-Harper about our connection to nature and what the loss of wilderness means for us humans.
This was followed by another film from our special topic category: “l’Arbre de l’Authenticité” by Sammy Baloji, a poetic cinematic essay that gives a voice to the trees in the Congolese rainforest and thus takes a critical look at Belgium’s colonial past and the ecological significance of the DR Congo today. Our special topic jury had already decided in the run-up to the festival to award this year’s EWS-sponsored prize to l’Arbre de l’Authenticité. Congratulations!
The evening concluded with the film “The Battle for Laikipia” by Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi. The questions raised in the film (How does colonial heritage still determine land ownership in parts of Africa today? What potential for conflict does this hold, and how is it further exacerbated by the climate crisis?) were explored in greater depth after the film in a Q&A session with Edwin Mutyenyoka from the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute.
Saturday, November 8
The fourth day of the festival began much earlier than the previous ones, as it was the weekend, with an interactive program item: In a three-hour workshop, Andreas Doerne from Holistic Compost Lab, who had already enriched the panel discussion on Thursday with his expertise, introduced the 15 participants to the fine art of composting.
At the same time, the first round of our yearly kids’ program took place in the cinema: Anne and Laura from the organising team guided over 30 children aged five and above and their accompanying adults through a colorful program of short films on the topics of environmental protection and sustainability.
On Saturday afternoon, two more films on the special topic were on the program: “People at the Heart of Change” by Karen Logan and “Ben & bEartha: A Community’s Compost Love Story” by Jordan Osmond show inspiring grassroots composting projects from South Africa and New Zealand, respectively. After the film, Veit Cornelis from the Freiburger Abfallwirtschaft ASF answered visitors’ questions about the waste system in Freiburg and the measures being taken to establish stronger material cycles in this area.
The journey around the globe continued cheerfully in the afternoon: Curmiah Lisette’s film “Roots of Resilience: Stories of Caribbean Women in Agriculture” presents an organization on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia that is committed to empowering women in local agriculture. “Birdsong” by Kathleen Harris follows an Irish ornithologist as he attempts to record the voices of all bird species in Ireland. “Li Cham” by Ana Ts’uyeb movingly depicts the emancipation of three Tsotsil women who regain their belief in a life of freedom and independence through the philosophy of Zapatismo.
The grand finale on Saturday evening was the film “The Wolves Always Come at Night” by Gabrielle Brady about a nomadic family in Mongolia who are forced to give up their traditional pastoral lifestyle due to climate change and make a new start in the big city. After the film, the more than 80 visitors were able to ask questions to the film’s editor, Katharina Fiedler, who joined us through a video call.
Sunday, November 9
In keeping with the tradition of recent years, the last day of the festival began with a buffet made from rescued food. In keeping with the theme, this was followed by a screening of the film “Demain, la Vallée” by Jérôme Prudent on sustainable agriculture. The film was accompanied by a panel discussion with participants from Agronauten, Piluweri (who also provided catering for the team during the festival), Regionalwert AG, and Gartencoop Freiburg.
On Sunday afternoon, Pierre-François Didek’s film “Documerica, Self-Portrait of a Nation on the Brink” painted a moving but also disturbing picture of the long history of environmental destruction in the USA. The shocking extent of human environmental destruction was also evident in the film “Bottlemen” by Nemanja Vojinović, which documents the lives of bottle collectors at Europe’s largest landfill site in Serbia.
The kids’ program also ran for the second time on Sunday afternoon. The majority of young visitors to the two sessions on Saturday and Sunday voted Eva Matejovičova’s film “Writing Home,” about the life of a bark beetle girl, as the winner of the Sparkasse Freiburg – Nördlicher Breisgau Kids’ Award. Congratulations!
The last feature film of the 2025 festival was once again related to our special topic: Martin H. Oetting’s film “Purpose” follows two economists in their fight for a fundamentally new economic system beyond the pressure to grow and the throwaway mentality. The film was followed by a panel discussion with the director (online), Niklas Mischowski from the ICLEI city alliance, and Benedikt Schmid from the University of Freiburg.
As every year, the legendary short film competition and subsequent award ceremony on Sunday evening provided the grand finale to the festival. From the seven short films shown, our short film jury selected Frédéric Doazan’s film “Picus” as the winner and presented it with the prize sponsored by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation. Congratulations!
To bring the festival to a close together, the Greenmotions organizing team invited everyone to an afterparty in the gallery of Kommunales Kino after the award ceremony, with music from the Freiburg band Cosmic Mints and sparkling wine and wine sponsored by Weingut Andreas Dilger.
