At Pelicam 2019, you have the opportunity to meet with directors, sociologists and environmental activists who will discuss over the three days of the festival about the present issues the environment is confronting with. Moreover, these issues will be analyzed in several events, such as: Photography Exhibition: CLEAN WATERS, Eco-Fashion Workshop, Collage and Recycling Workshop Bileţel’s Chance.

Also, as part of the Romania-France Cultural Season, there will be a series of meetings with French filmmakers and environmental experts and a special selection of French documentaries in the Intersections – environment, artistic and scientific culture, PELICAM (Tulcea) and FReDD (Toulouse) program.

A fish-shaped art installation to which everyone can contribute, will be set up during the festival to encourage the audience to recycle, but keep in mind: the fish can be only fed plastic. There will be designated places with containers for selective recycling, and organic waste (food) will be collected and composted by Biodek. For products, only biodegradable and compostable packaging will be used.

Environmental issues will be discussed on Pelicam TALKS 2019, and each section will include a few films dedicated to the same topic:

• Climate Change:

The Human Element (dir. Matthew Testa) – „We humans are a force of nature. At the same time human activities alter the basic elements of life – earth, air, water, and fire – those elements change human life in turn. In this riveting and visually rich drama blending art and science, we follow renowned environmental photographer James Balog as he explores wildfires, hurricanes, sea level rise, a struggling coal mining community, and our changing air supply.”

Anote’s Ark (dir. Matthieu Rytz) – „The Pacific Island nation of Kiribati is one of the most remote places on the planet, seemingly far-removed from the pressures of modern life. Yet it is one of the first countries that must confront the main existential dilemma of our time: imminent annihilation from sea-level rise.”

• Intensive Agriculture:

The Empire of Red Gold (dir. Xavier Deleu , Jean-Baptiste Malet) – „The world’s most consumed fruit has an untold story. The industrialisation of the humble tomato preceded the globalised economy that was to follow. It is now as much of a commodity as wheat, rice, or petrol. The tomato’s ability to create strongly identifiable products, such as ketchup, pizza sauce, soups, sauces, drinks or frozen dishes is unbeatable.”

The Carnivore’s Dilemma (dir. Benoît Bringer) – „A journey to the United States, Portugal, France, Sweden, and Germany reveals the worst excesses of industrial farming and positive alternatives. Bringer is on a universal quest to meet the pioneers of a new way of farming, respectful of the animals, the planet and the people, which question the moral and sustainable dimension of our eating habits.”

Eating Animals (dir. Christopher Quinn) – „Looking at the costs we’ve incurred as our country has become dominated by massive industrial complexes designed to feed the masses, Eating Animals paints a picture of a future where traditional farming is no longer a distant memory, but is instead the only way forward.”

• Forests and their resources

Time of Forests (dir. François-Xavier Drouet) – „To the eyes of urban people the forest is the symbol of an authentic nature and resilience. However, reality shows us otherwise, the French forest lives an unprecedented phase of industrialisation.”

The Ancient Woods (dir. Mindaugas Survila) – „A poetic and atypical nature film takes its viewers on the endless journey – from the forest thickets to the wolves’ caves and up to black stork’s nest, and then deep into the water to the underwater forest, returning after to the human beings inhabiting the edge of the woodland.”

Pelicam’s special events include the European project Moving Cinema, where the festival volunteers and the young jury of Fresh Perspectives competition will participate in a workshop of audio-visual experimenting conducted by Gintė Žulytė.

Pelicam is not overlooking children, the Pelicam Junior program includes well-known movies such as The Secret Life of Pets, Zootropolis, as well as less-known films, but equally charming and educational: The Secret Life of the Garden, The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales etc.

Pelicam, the International Film Festival about Environment and People, will take place in Tulcea, between June 20th-23rd, 2019.

For more details, visit the Pelicam website and the Facebook page.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.