Anote's Ark, a film directed by Matthieu Rytz, has won the grand prize of Pelicam, a film festival dedicated to the environment held in Tulcea, in eastern Romania.

The film looks at the impact of climate change on the Pacific island nation of Kiribati and the efforts made by president Anote Tong to save his people from the sustained sea level rise.

“We talk about climate change but it is hard to imagine how because of it this island will probably disappear within 100 years. There are already talks about relocating these people,” Cristiana Paşca Palmer, the executive secretary of the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and a festival jury member, said.

Two films were awarded in the Black Sea Docs section. A mention went to Andriy Lytvynenko’s Askania Reserve for “the authentic curiosity and originality in researching the interaction between people and animals in a protected environment in post-Soviet Ukraine.” The award of the section went to Hristiana Raykova film The Pit.

In the Fresh Perspectives section, the winner was Slater Jewell-Kemker’s Youth Unstoppable.

This year, 15 films competed in the festival’s section, in addition to the 21 movies screened. The event featured various talks, recycling workshops for children, and eco-fashion workshops. As part of the event, an installation where PET bottles can be dumped was set up on the shore of Ciuperca lake, in Tulcea.

The films that won at this year’s edition of the festival will be screened in Bucharest this September.

(Photo: Anote’s Ark Facebook Page)

editor@romania-insider.com