Mission statement

In order to build a society shaped by sustainable development, we must make fundamental changes to our current patterns of production and consumption. The film and television industry has a central, guiding role to play in this communal challenge. The sector can help convey information about the actions we need to take and present powerful images of what our lives might look like in the future. On top of that, it is a driver of creative, forward-thinking technological innovation.

Both in order to act as a credible messenger and in light of the fundamental need to reduce the ecological footprint of the audiovisual industry, the production of media itself must also meet the requirements of environmental standards. Some pioneers in the branch have already grasped the importance of this challenge, and have been striving to produce media sustainably for years. The Federal Government, too, was an early champion of resource-saving production practices, and has provided a catalyst for this way of working through its film funding guidelines.

Aiming to support these ecological pioneers, to create incentives for the development of innovative, resource-saving film production solutions and to introduce best practices to a wider (professional) audience, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and the Heinz Sielmann Stiftung have joined forces with the Federal Government’s Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM) and the Allianz Deutscher Produzenten – Film & Fernsehen e.V. to establish an international prize for innovative, eco-friendly film production.

The prize represents a building block within a larger framework of measures introduced by the Federal Government to promote more sustainable production of audiovisual content. Other measures include the introduction of mandatory minimum environmental standards based on scientific evidence into film funding guidelines at the federal level, as well as the creation of a voluntary certification for particularly sustainable audiovisual productions awarded by the BKM. Alongside the Eisvogel – Prize for Sustainable Film Production, the new standards and certification aim to support the development of long-term frameworks for the sustainable production of audiovisual content in Germany.