Green Vision (Russia)

"Green Vision" in St. Petersburg is organized by the Committee for Nature Use, Environmental Protection and Ecological Safety of the City Administration of St. Petersburg with the support of Western European partners. The program is composed of high quality environmental film and television productions not older than four years, usually originated from about 20-25 countries from all over the world. During each festival, a total of more than 2 000 participants join the event, many of them participate in the discussions. Up to thirty film-makers and environmental experts mainly from Western Europe and CIS countries travel to St. Petersburg in order to take part in the festival. Numerous well known film makers and experts from St. Petersburg attend the event. An internationally composed jury of five members awards six prizes to the best films of different categories. The festival is highly appreciated both by film makers and environmental multipliers. It receives high media coverage far beyond the boundaries of St. Petersburg and Russia. The premises, Dom Kino in the heart of St. Petersburg, has proven to be an excellent place to host the event.

Program: The Festival "Green Vision" has some special focus each year: "Preservation of Water", "Sustainable Development", "Saving Resources" etc. It was decided to keep a balanced number of films from each involved country in the program and to select a number of films addressing children and young people.

Participants: Guests from out of town are invited based on the film selection and more than 2 000 invitations to participate in the festival are distributed through all involved partner organizations in St. Petersburg (universities, research institutes, institutions of out-of-school and in-school environmental education, environmental NGOs public administrations such as district administrations, TV and film studios and others).

Awards: Several prizes are defined: Grand-Prix of the Festival, Most Original Approach to Environmental Issues, Most Courageous Film, Best Film for Children and Youth, For Beauty and Humanism, Best Film About Baltic Sea Region and a Prize of the Audience.

Festival Languages: Russian and English. For the guests of the festival all films are translated simultaneously into English. Dom Kino provide 16 and 35 mm film projectors. A betacam recorder and sound equipment has to be leased from another sources. ECAT also provide its video beamer.

Recognition: The Festival receives superb media coverage. The event is covered on television news in Russia and St. Petersburg. All the participants from CIS countries remark that such festivals help them in their work. Local authorities realize the importance of environmental films in raising public awareness and start to order new films by local film-makers. Based on the experience of "Green Vision" several local and regional festivals have started in Northern Russia, Siberia and Far East.

¬ www.infoeco.ru/greenvision