21 March is World Glacier Day, a United Nations initiative that draws attention to the rapid melting of the world’s giant ice masses. Nowhere else can the dramatic impact of man-made global warming be observed as clearly as there. With the documentary “MELT”, GREEN VISIONS POTSDAM will bring an impressive cinematic panorama of this development to the screen at the end of May. The renowned Austrian documentary filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter (“Our Daily Bread”, “Earth”) takes us to spectacular locations around the globe for this project. His film depicts the vast ice landscapes and tells the story of the creeping disappearance of this supposedly “eternal ice”.

Several documentaries in the programme focus on construction, a topic central to global warming. As the Federal Environment Agency recently reported, emissions remain high particularly in the construction and transport sectors, even though current carbon footprints show signs of progress.

GREEN VISIONS POTSDAM demonstrates that there is another way, with films exploring new approaches to construction: The documentary “Make Materials Matter” by Simon Weyhe and Marc-Christoph Wagner profiles the Danish architect Søren Pihlmann as he works with existing materials during the renovation of the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and advocates for a fundamental transformation of the construction industry. Instead of constantly consuming new raw materials, he focuses on reuse, circular construction and the “Cradle to Cradle” principle.
The documentary “Ein Haus aus Müll” (“A House Made of Trash”) by Tatjana Mischke and Valentin Thurn takes us to Berlin: three young idealists want to build a residential and office building there using only recycled materials. Their project highlights just how significant the obstacles to sustainable building still are, but also demonstrates that new ideas can become reality.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick: “Right now, we are seeing once again just how dependent our society still is on oil and gas, and how this continues to generate greenhouse gas emissions. This makes it all the more important to expand renewable energies and consistently harness the sun’s free energy. Many people have long understood this and are taking action themselves: in Germany, photovoltaic systems can be seen on rooftops all around and approximately 1.5 million balcony power installations have been set up in a short space of time. This shows that the energy transition has long been underway in many households.”

Scientists and experts will be present at all film screenings at GREEN VISIONS POTSDAM and will be available for talks and discussions.