The Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) opened its doors to the creation of spaces to explore issues of socio-environmental ethics with the panel Environment, society and cinema, with the participation of filmmaker Max Keegan; the director of the Museum of Environmental Sciences of the University of Guadalajara, Eduardo Santana; and documentary filmmaker Rodolfo Castillo Morales as moderator.
The talk addressed the use of film as a tool to make visible and question the socio-environmental crisis. In this context, Keegan's film, The Shepherd and The Bear (2024), by British director Max Keegan and part of the Socio-environmental Film Award selection, served as an example to talk about this connection between the film world and the Earth.
The Shepherd and The Bear portrays the social and environmental changes in the French Pyrenees. Loaded with nuance, this play raises many questions about the future of the countryside and humanity's relationship with a disappearing natural world, through an aging shepherd struggling to find a successor as bears harass his flock.
Keegan said that he had been living in the mountain range for two years, which made him stop to observe the world through the eyes of those who have direct communication with the ecosystem.
For his part, Santana emphasized that the films are the spark for ethical, philosophical and emotional change, and that this happens through the hope of groups of people convinced of an ecologically responsible future. He also used his voice to call on the public: "Get organized, work collectively, get informed and take action!
At the beginning of the round of questions, the audience shared their experience filming the biodiversity and culture that surrounds them. This led to a key question: how can we make a more sustainable cinema? A question that has no simple answer.
Keegan commented that we don't need new cameras every year; great films are about what you're seeing, not the technology being used. And in turn he brought to the table the social responsibility of the film industry: to lead the audience and the industry towards an ethical and sustainable future.
Later, the director of the Museum of Environmental Sciences expressed: "I am a product of the city, I am an ecologist because I used to watch Unusual World on Sundays on TV". Once again, it is reaffirmed that cinema connects us with what really matters.