Climate Justice: Perspectives and Solutions from the Global South
Dear filmmakers,
you are welcome to submit your movie to the 9th Edition of the Greenmotions Filmfestival in Freiburg, Germany! Greenmotions inspires and encourages people to take active participation in the transition towards a regenerative culture in which humanity harmonises with the rest of the natural world.
For a lot of us there seems to be a gap between this vision and the reality of our daily lives. And that’s where your films come in.
We screen solution-oriented, constructive and empowering films dealing with the environment, sustainability and beyond. The festival is open to films of all production techniques, including animation, documentary, drama, experimental or artistic films and hybrid work from low to high budgets.
We are looking for films for our four different categories: the Short Film and the Short Film for Children categories, the Feature Film and the Special Topic categories. The first three categories focus on the general theme “Beyond sustainability”. The 2023 Special Topic is:
“Climate Justice: Perspectives and Solutions from the Global South”
Climate change affects nations and people differently. Despite being a global issue, it has an undeniably more destructive impact on the Global South’s vulnerable communities and countries. Intensified by the effects of globalization, the impacts of climate change place the most marginalized people at a cumulative disadvantage, as these people face the crisis without enough resources to respond or adapt to natural catastrophes. However, the historic impact of the different countries on the climate crisis reveals how unjust this situation is. Typically, the countries who are suffering most from the consequences of climate change are the ones who emitted the least greenhouse gasses in the past. The legacy of colonialism not only continues to worsen the socio-economic impacts of climate change, it also impacts the adaptation and mitigation strategies that are available for/ to the Global South.
Multilateral negotiation processes and the ensuing political and institutional actions would give spaces to fix these issues. However, these negotiations unfortunately tend to be held up by Global North political leaders, who focus mainly on climate solutions for themselves, and words are too rarely followed by actions. Advocates for climate justice are striving to have these inequities addressed through long-term mitigation and adaptation strategies in climate negotiations. Many are asking for the alternatives that already exist and are practiced in the Global South (among others) to be given the attention they deserve. They also demand that the communities at the forefront of the climate crisis impacts move to the center of the fight against it.
Based on this situation, Greenmotions FILMFESTIVAL has decided its 2023 Special Topic to be “Perspectives and Solutions from the Global South”. We invite all filmmakers to share with us stories that highlight Global South actors who are part of inspiring solutions from local to global perspectives. From our collective efforts and by learning from each other, we have the power to create a better world. Let us work together to ensure that climate justice is at the core of climate action, and that we leave a legacy of hope and opportunity for generations to come!
Selected films will be screened at the festival which will take place from the 8th until the 12th of November 2023. All necessary information for submitting your work to our festival and our terms of conditions for the competition can be found here.
We are looking forward to receiving your inspiring stories! Surprise us!