International Sustainable Development Film Festival 2024
The 3rd edition of the Sustainable Development International Film Festival is resolutely focused on openness. Over 60 films, produced in around twenty participating institutions, from Hong Kong, Asia, and all the way to Santo Domingo, by students and their teachers from kindergarten to high school!
The SDIFF is proud to present a panorama of young perspectives covering all the Sustainable Development Goals in diverse local contexts. Along the different categories of the Festival, we will address the issue of clean water in Haiti, the challenges related to pollution in Hanoi, social inequalities in Hong Kong, threats to mangroves in Thailand, a love story amidst bombings in Rouen, a dragon born from recycling water bottles in Koh Samui, the journey of a single grain of rice in Cambodia… Our young filmmakers have thus been able to explore their environment, meet agents of change, have a collective experience that will leave a lasting impact, and contribute to raising awareness beyond their immediate circle about the causes they hold dear. Finally, their creativity has been expressed through various original audiovisual genres, from documentaries to fiction, including animation films or an exploration of video art in our new category of short films, Impact.
This openness is also the realisation of strong partnerships that contribute to creating a spirit of community and a network around this Festival. The strong support of the AEFE has helped highlight the presence of French schools in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the involvement of TASS (The Alliance for Sustainable Schools) and, through it, several international schools in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Youthtopia and its founder, Melati Wijsen, have actively participated in creating connections among all the participants by organising online workshops open to all, and by connecting us to their extensive network of young changemakers around the world, with the support of the French Consulate. Faced with the challenges we are confronted with, which often seem insurmountable, this collective dynamic is a source of inspiration and hope. We will remember the calls to action from Mundiya Kepanga, the Papuan chief and defender of primary forests, who came to meet our students, as well as David Begbie, the tireless advocate for the most disadvantaged through his Crossroads Foundation, and Flore Vasseur, the director of the aptly named “Bigger Than Us”…
Thanks to the mobilisation of everyone, students, parents from FIS Hong Kong actively involved in organising this event, and all participating schools, this movement is expected to grow even stronger in the upcoming editions of the Festival.
Iv Charbonneau
Festival Director
icharbonneau@g.lfis.edu.hk
Programme of Events
PEACE AWARD-GIVING
Wednesday 17th April | TKO Campus | 16h – 18h
- 16:00 : doors open
- 16:10 : welcome speech
- 16:15 : screenings of 4 students’ films with Q&A
- 17:15 : discussion with Frank Tétart, French Geopolitican and Philippe Schwab, Secretary General of the Swiss Federal Assembly
- 18:15 : peace award-giving
PLANET AWARD-GIVING
Monday 6th May 2024 | TKO Auditorium | 13:00 – 15:00
- 13:00 : doors open
- 13:05 : welcome speech
- 13:10 : presentation of Caroline Tronnel aka The French Girl’s sustainable art and Q&A
- 13:45 : screenings of 4 students’ films with Q&A
- 14:45 : planet award-giving
PEOPLE AND PROSPERITY-AWARDS GIVING
Friday 10th May | TKO Auditorium | 13:00 – 14:30
- 13:00 : doors open
- 13:05 : welcome speech
- 13:10 : Silver Award Prosperity screening
- 13:30 : Silver Award People screening
- 13:50 : Golden Award Prosperity screening
- 14:10 : Golden Award People screening
- 14:30 : end
ONLINE WORKSHOP WITH MELATI WIJSEN
Tuesday 14th May
19:00 (HKTime) : online workshop with Melati Wijsen and all the participants of the Festival. Discussion about film production experiences of the year.
CLOSING CEREMONY : GRAND JURY AND PUBLIC AWARDS-GIVING
Friday 17th May | TKO Campus | 16:00 – 21:30
REGISTER HERE4PM- 6PM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FAIR
PLAYGROUND
- the Anti-Fashion Market : 1 SDG, 2 products, 3 activities: This alternative market questions our usual consumption habits. It is designed around Sustainable Development Goal 12, responsible consumption, with two products; books and clothing, and three activities. Each of these products will be subject to exchange, artistic valorization, and recycling:
- Swap: Each participant can bring two books and two pieces of clothing that they can exchange on-site. Please only bring items that are worthy of being bought and not simply given away, as we operate on the principle of exchange and do not have the capacity to store useless items.
- Artistic valorization: All participants are invited to come dressed in second-hand clothes. Those who want to can have their photos taken and participate in the second-hand elegance contest! As for books, we are fortunate to have our French teacher, Madame Rensy, with us as Living Books. Students have memorised chapters from books and will recite them to anyone who wants to experience it!
- Recycling: Our students will teach you how to transform an old T-shirt into a tote bag (please bring your favourite old T-shirt!) or create papier-mâché artworks (endangered animals and such) with old and unusable books’ pages!
- Science workshops: Science won’t suffice to change the world: but it can allow us to understand it better, and to find alternatives to our current consumption habits. With the students of Mr. Senant, learn while having fun… In a sustainable way! Transform your smartphone into a microscope, understand the Albedo effect with a simple experiment, how science can take over your kitchen, etc.
- climate fresk: The climate fresk is a serious game that travels around the world and helps us understand the effects and retroactions of climate change in our societies. It will be presented under the direction of Martial Jaume under its quiz form!
- exhibitions: The students of Mr. Jouaud and Nathalie Maitre give us an exposition bright with colours, that helps us understand the sustainable development goals and to see the world through the -critical- eyes of these days’ youth. What jobs for tomorrow? How do we stop idiocy? Are we like ostriches burying our heads in the sand? And much more…
SCREENING ROOM
- films screenings : The Festival received over 60 films this year, from 20 different schools around the world. These films provide us with an impressive panorama of the concerns of our youth, sometimes alarming situations, but also a genuine call to action, with often astonishing creativity!
AUDITORIUM
- 05:45 pm : Dance performance by Kham, a French dance company, and students of the school : Kham is a dance company that comes directly from France and combines hip-hop with traditional dances from Southeast Asia. Their dancers are performing in Hong Kong as part of the French May. Kham offers a reflection on dance and movement that aligns with the issues of Sustainable Development. They will present a short piece created with several of our young students during a workshop conducted as part of the Festival.
6PM- 7:15PM : AUDITORIUM (screen broadcast in the cafeteria) CLOSING CEREMONY of the INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FILM FESTIVAL
- Music with the musicians of Mr. Costantini and Ms. Wang.
- Screening of the winners in the Impact category (which brings together very short-format films).
- Screening of the 4 Golden Awards of the Festival :
- Gong Gong & Popo (10 minutes) by Paloma Hesry, French International School, Hong Kong : A search for origins and identity through the history of contemporary China.
- The Sustainable Choice (08:33) by Vivien Jagmag, Canadian International School, Hong Kong : An animated film that depicts, through the daily lives of three characters, ways of living more sustainably.
- Breaking Barriers (05:00), by Genesis Hugeux, Sofia Cabrera, Sofia Perez, Sofia Espinal, Lycée Francais de Saint-Domingue, Dominican Republic : In a nation where beauty masks inequality, women must seek representation by challenging traditions and shaping their own future. This is their story…
- Des livres, des histoires (09:55) by Kol Darwin ; Kong Silawadhi ; Moua Artémis ; Sisowath Monica ; Vibol Lijee ; Thibault Le Bobinnec, Lycée Francais René Descartes, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In order to renovate the library of the Taramana NGO, the eco-delegates of LFRD are mobilizing to raise funds
- Giving of Grand Jury Award
07:15 pm – 09:30 pm : LIVE MUSIC and PARTY ! (Playground, main stage)
Meet our Grand Jury
All the films selected for the Sustainable Development Film Festival take part in the competition, which rewards the best films in each category : Peace, People, Planet, Prosperity and Impact. In all, more than 60 people from all the participating schools, children and adults, members of associations involved in sustainable development, film professionals and teachers evaluated the films and deliberated to award the prizes.
The winners of the 4 P’s (Peace, Planet, Prosperity and People) will be screened at the closing ceremony, during which the Audience Prize and the Grand Jury Prize will be awarded. This year’s Grand Jury is made up of the following members:
Our patron : Melati Wijsen
Melati Wijsen is an internationally renowned change-maker from Bali, founder of Bye Bye Plastic Bag with her sister Isabel and other organisations dedicated to Sustainable Development, including the youth empowerment network Youthtopia. She has spoken on global stages such as TED, World economic forum and the UN headquarters in New York. She has been honoured by TIME as part of the annual list of most influential teens in the world along with CNN Heroes Young Wonders. Her first feature film, directed by Flore Vasseur, Bigger Than Us, premiered at Cannes in 2021.
David Attali
David Attali David is a film director and producer with years of experience on set. From script to screen, idea to eyeball, he lives for stories, the ones that entertain and the ones that sell. His films reflect his love for poetry, humanity, culture and languages.
Jean-Sébastien Attié
Jean-Sébastien Attié has served as the Executive Director of Alliance française de Hong Kong and Director of the Hong Kong French Film Festival (HKFFF) since 2016. The HKFFF is the eldest Film Festival in Hong Kong and will celebrate its 53rd edition in November 2024. In 2021, it presented a Cinema for Climate section that premiered Bigger than Us in Hong Kong.
Jake Morton
Jake Morton is an interdisciplinary sustainability professional and internationally renowned photographer. He currently works as a Sustainability Programme Coordinator for The Alliance for Sustainable Schools (a non-profit network of schools working together to help accelerate the transition to a sustainable future). Jake’s passion for tackling systems change and unique perspective as a photographer inform his creative approach to sustainability.
Caroline Tronel
Caroline Tronel grew up in Paris, immersed in street art but has made her home in Hong Kong, where she shares her positive and meaningful messages through murals, installations and canvases. Her captivating artworks fuse upcycling art with sustainability.
Tronel’s art embodies the power of creativity and individual action in reshaping our relationship with the world. The “Giant Crushed Cans” series invites viewers to embrace sustainability and sparks conversations on environmental consciousness.