Sustainability Award Verso is awarded for the third time this festival

Since 2022,  Tampere Film Festival has awarded the Sustainability Award Verso. This is awarded by Yle, the City of Tampere, Tampere Film Festival and Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI ry in order to promote a more sustainable film industry and sustainable practices. The award is one of a kind in Finland, because it only focuses on how ecologically the film was made. 

Verso is awarded again in this year’s Award Ceremony. All films selected for Tampere Film Festival’s National Competition series are eligible to apply for the Verso Award. A questionnaire will be sent by e-mail to the work groups of the selected films, in which the film production can explain how it has taken sustainability and ecology into account. This means any actions that reduce the negative climate and environmental impact of productions.

In order to be considered as a winner of the competition, the film’s team must respond to the questionnaire Tampere Film Festival sent out. The deadline for answering the questionnaire is 26 February at 15.00.

The winner will be chosen by a four-person jury, which this year includes last year’s winner Pekka Paalanen, Visit Tampere’s Project Manager Matti Pollari, APFI’s project manager Anne Puolanne and Yle’s sustainability expert Marja Salonen. The jury of the Verso Award can be found in the jury section of our website.

The Verso Award will be awarded at the film festival’s Awards Ceremony on Saturday 9 March and is worth €2000. In addition to the main prize, a Verso Special Mention will be awarded to one of the films.

Verso to be awarded for the third time in the 2024 festival

This year will be the third time the Verso Award will be awarded. Last year’s winner was Crime Alley (2022) by Pekka Johan Paalanen.  A special mention went to Tuulikki (2022), directed by Teemu Nikki. The jury justified the winning film on the basis of its overall ecological approach to production.

– The choices made behind the camera have been integrated as a part of the sustainable development goals, and the jury concluded that a similar understanding of our industry should be seen more in pre-production as well as a part of overall communication, was the jury’s reasoning.

The very first Verso Award in 2022 was won by Arctic Utopias (2022) directed by Ville Koskinen, Daniela Toma, Svetlana Romanova, Matti Kinnunen. A special mention went to Ida-Maria Ova’s film Mehiläiskesä (2021).

The award has been also gained positive comments by a number of nominees. 

– Responsibility is a very important and topical issue in all fields, including cinema. It is great that the industry is paying more and more attention to the principles of sustainability and reducing environmental impact. Awards such as the Verso Sustainability Award are a great way to encourage and highlight good practice in the sector. Such awards can serve as examples and inspiration for others in the industry, said one film producer in his feedback.

Towards more sustainable festival

Tampere Film Festival is determined to become a more environmentally sustainable event and is committed to the City of Tampere’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

The film festival’s commitment to environmental responsibility can be seen in practice by, for example, sorting waste both in the office and at events, favouring rental, lending and recycling services, and designing event communication materials to be perennial wherever possible. 

The film festival also highlights environmental themes in the festival programme, and we will continue to do so this year. For example, the theme programme Forest looks at the forest from many different perspectives. 

For more information on how Tampere Film Festival promotes environmental responsibility, please visit the sustainability section of our website. 

The 2024 festival will also for the first time offer an environmental ticket. You can read more about our ticket products in the tickets section. For more information about the environmental ticket, read the related article on our website.