The third edition of the Green Eye Festival, a Šibenik-based film festival based on the environment and nature conservation as well as water protection, opened on Friday, October the 11th, 2019 at 19:30 in the exhibition hall of the Šibenik City Museum.
As Morski writes on the 13th of October, 2019, ecology has been the focus of the global public lately. It is within the scope of this atmosphere that the third Green Eye Festival is being held – Nature is Watching You, the film festival on the protection of the environment and the conservation of nature, ie, the Earth’s flora and fauna, is aimed at raising awareness of the environmental challenges facing our civilisation, which are global warming, environmental pollution and the extinction of endangered species.
During the three days of the festival, three films are being presented on the topic of environmental protection, which are authored by some of the most famous producers and directors, educational panel discussions after the screening of films, and a music program and socialising in which visitors will be able to comment on these topics in a more relaxed and informal atmosphere.
The theme of this year’s edition of the Green Eye Festival is primarily water. The right to drinking water is a basic human right, but it is also one of the world’s most endangered resources. For the Krka National Park Public Institution, which manages and takes care of beautiful the Krka river’s water, this topic is particularly important. With its tributaries, the Krka river forms an above-ground basin of 2 450 km² and with hydrogeological catchment, it occupies an area of 2 650 km².
On the first day of the Šibenik film festival, the film Planet Ocean, directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot, featured some of the leading underwater cameramen, oceanographers and biologists. The film encourages people to change the way they experience the oceans and to understand the conservation and management of the oceans as a responsibility that must be shared by all Earth’s inhabitants.
Planet Ocean seeks to explain some of Earth’s greatest natural mysteries in an understandable way. The film tells young people that a more sustainable world is not only possible but also achievable. The combination of mesmerising aerial shots, on which Arthus-Bertrand has built his reputation, along with the underwater footage of the award-winning recording team, makes a deep impression.
On the second evening, the award-winning documentary RiverBlue was screened, accompanying world-renowned river protector Mark Angelo on a journey that uncovers the dark sides of the fashion industry. Travelling from the most respected to the most polluted waterways in the world, behind-the-scenes viewers discover the tragically neglected problem of water pollution. Due to the chemicals it uses in the production process and the irresponsible disposal of toxic chemical waste, the fashion industry is heavily contributing to the destruction of rivers worldwide.
The festival’s closure is the film by Anote’s Ark by director, screenwriter and producer Matthieu Rytz. The Republic of Kiribati, an island state in the central Pacific, is facing an unstoppable sea level rise that will soon swallow the entire island.
Thus, Kiribati’s residents will soon become some of the world’s first refugees due to climate change. Can these people survive as their country disappears is one of the questions the film raises. While Anote Tong, the President of Kiribati, is in a hurry to find a way to protect his people, many of Kiribati’s citizens are already seeking safe ports abroad. Against the backdrop of international negotiations on climate change and the struggle to recognise them as a human rights issue that needs to be urgently addressed, Anote’s personal struggle to save his nation is intertwined with the fate of Sermary, a young mother of six who has decided to move to New Zealand with her family.
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