Beata was a member of the jury for the Film for Climate category at the 51^st edition of the Gdynia Film Festival.  She shares her experience and thoughts on the initiative and the growing importance of green filming.

What was your role at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia (21 to 26 September 2026) this year?

I was invited to serve as a jury member in the Film for Climate category. This award has been presented for the past five years as the result of a grassroots initiative by the Film for Climate Association, and its purpose is to honour creators implementing sustainable practices in film production processes, but also films whose underlying message addresses issues related to the broadly understood protection of the natural environment and biodiversity.

This year’s competition selection in the Film for Climate category comprised nine titles: three feature films - Fluidy, Sick and Kobieta stanu wolnego - and six short films - Ministrancik, Kołtunica, Wszystkie miały na imię Anżelika, Princeska and Serca z plastiku.

The overall level of the nominated films is low, with just a few gems among them. The plots of the majority of the films - exactly six out of nine - revolved around the problems of adolescence, conflicts with parents and partners, and sexuality. With a heavy heart, I have to say that many of them reproduced a harmful pattern of sexualising and objectifying representations of women. The female protagonists were predominantly depicted as people whose main interests in life were sex or dealing with its consequences in the form of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease. The creators were portraying women through the prism of their bodies, and, what is more, in vulgar language. 

I find the current state of affairs troubling, particularly given that each film selected for the competition was made under the auspices of, or with the involvement of, Polish film schools or public institutions - there was not a single independent production among the nominees - and therefore the patterns presented in these films received the approval of the academic film community.

What do you think about the industry events that are part of the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia? Do they fulfil their purpose?

I rate the industry events that are part of the festival highly. I must admit, I found them much more efficient than some editions of the Marché du Film in Cannes. The film events regarded as the most prestigious in Europe have become mass gatherings. 

Gdynia, thanks to its compact scale, brings together people who genuinely work in the film industry, which creates much better conditions for establishing business contacts.

Could you tell us more about the Film for Climate Award, which you presented together with Sławomir Rogowski, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and Dana Pohl, Vice-President of the Polish Producers Alliance? What criteria did the jury use to evaluate the films? What was the procedure for selecting the winners?

Evaluating the films was a fairly complex process, primarily due to the lack of a model that would allow us to compare specific numerical data. One particularly problematic issue was the inability to verify the statements submitted by the filmmakers. Information about the production process was provided purely on a declarative basis.

Selecting the winners on the basis of non-uniform criteria naturally raises questions. At the same time, seeing the stage that green filmmaking has reached in Poland gives me even greater motivation to act and develop new projects that will make the evaluation process more transparent in the future.

This year’s submissions showed that, despite a general increase in awareness of environmental issues, there is still a noticeable lack of knowledge among filmmakers about the methods available for implementing green production, as well as the measurement, documentation and reporting of its environmental impact.

The selection of the winners was based on watching all the films, followed by a discussion of them among the the members of the jury. It was crucial for us not to focus solely on technical aspects, but to take artistic considerations into account. This is precisely why I was so moved by the film A Free Woman (org. Kobieta stanu wolnego), with its subtle analysis of a consumerist model of reality, conveyed through the story of Roma, whose living space is a car. Woven into the deeper layer of the film is a truth about the consequences of contemporary humanity’s perpetual sense of insatiability.

Let’s talk a little about your films now. We recently read in the media about Red, Green, Round, which you are directing and producing. What is it about? Is it also being produced in accordance with the principles of sustainable film production?

Red, Green, Round is a political drama with spy elements, telling the story of an undercover Iranian agent operating on the front line of the cyber battlefield. This profoundly contemporary story portrays a man who, seemingly being closest to the events that shape the world, is in fact deprived of any influence over their course. The mission carried out by the protagonist in Kraków gradually becomes a journey of discovery into the mechanisms that sustain the capitalist system - one in which recurring war is a condition of its survival and an inherent mechanism of economic growth.

With its essayistic tone, Red, Green, Round raises questions about what the will of a nation means in the contemporary world and how democracy justifies interference in the sovereign decisions of non-democratic countries. The film examines humanity’s powerlessness in the face of a system that exploits those who are part of it, regardless of their will.

You also asked about the sustainable production process. Obviously, from the very beginning, as with all my films, this one too has been produced in accordance with green certification standards. Already at the development stage, the entire production was planned in such a way as to minimise the size of the crew. We primarily involved people who live locally and can travel to the set by public transport. Our lead actor, Jakub Reizer, usually came to the set by bike! But this, just like using energy-efficient lighting or waste segregation, is something that should be so standard that I actually find it inappropriate to talk about it. I am especially pleased, however, with the figures we achieved at the post-production stage. This is where the real revolution lies, because for editing, colour grading and VFX, there was practically no file transfer at all! We store the materials exclusively on hard drives, thereby saving energy.

What led you to choose this particular subject?

It has become customary for films about Iran to be made by Iranians, about Poland by Poles, and about the United States by Americans. Why? Is it really necessary to be a citizen of a given country to be entitled to tell a story about it in a film? What, then, are research and imagination for? As you can see, I am a rebel. I believe that we are not obliged to make films exclusively about our own experiences, as this very much narrows perspective. Besides, you can see the consequences of this when watching the immature films about teenage crushes and conflicts with parents that the market is flooded with, which we were just talking about.

Fortunately, there is no requirement for legitimisation to make films on a given subject. What is more, citizens of countries engulfed in conflicts usually have limited access to the tools that enable them to produce high-quality films. Undoubtedly, being at the centre of events also makes it easy to become biased, resulting from an overly emotional perception of reality. Contrary to appearances, entrusting a subject to someone from outside can contribute to objectivity. It is exactly like handing a screenplay over to a script doctor for analysis.