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News

Ecologist's film 'boosted' French Greens[fr][de]

Published: Wednesday 10 June 2009

Broadcasting the documentary 'Home' on public TV just ahead of the European elections certainly favoured the 'Europe Ecologie' list in France, its director Yann Arthus-Bertrand conceded. But he denied any intention to influence the poll.

Background:

Following in the footsteps of Al Gore, French photographer, ecologist and journalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand released his documentary film 'Home' simultaneously in 134 countries on World Environment Day (5 June).

The documentary takes a look at the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate, sounding the alarm about the urgency of averting further depletion of natural resources and stressing the need to stop irresponsible human activity.

In France alone, the film - broadcast on public TV channel France 2, attracted 8.3 million viewers and triggered an unprecedented buzz.

Produced by Luc Besson, 'Home' was funded by François-Henri Pinault, the owner of the global luxury group PPR, which spent 12 million euros.

The documentary took more than two-and-a-half years to film, by helicopter in over 50 countries, and resulted in 500 hours of footage, reduced to two hours for cinema and 90 minutes for television. The film is copyright-free and can be downloaded in high quality from the 'Home ' website.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand, called YAB by his friends, is becoming an influential figure in France and abroad, in the tradition of world-renowned ecologist and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who passed away in 1997.

Other related news:

Several mainstream French newspapers simultaneously asked the question: 'Did the release of Home on 5 June, which resembles a cry for help, favour the 'Europe Ecologie' lists?'

Indeed, Daniel Cohn-Bendit's 'Europe Ecologie' surprisingly obtained 16.3% of the vote in France, more than doubling the score of 7.41% posted in the 2004 EU elections.

However, it is difficult to evaluate the impact of the film. Surveys had already shown growing support for the Greens, eroding the leadership of the two big European Parliament political groups, the centre-right EPP and the Socialists (EurActiv 04/06/09).

The French far-right denounced the "manipulation" of releasing of the film on the eve of the elections.

"I stress the extravagant, scandalous character of broadcasting the film 'Home', a movie designed to boost the candidacies of [French grass-root environmentalist José] Bové and Mr. Cohn-Bendit," said Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right 'Front National'.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand rejected any hints of manipulation. "The date for broadcasting the film was decided two years ago, and I really had to rush to be able to finish in time," he said, quoted by Le Monde.

But he conceded that by watching the film, viewers may have been influenced in their vote.

French Green leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit concurred with this view. "There is an ecological sensibility in France. This sensibility has been activated or certainly reactivated by films like 'Home'. Yes, it is possible," he said.

Arthus-Bertrand said that following this line of thought, the film may have also helped the ruling UMP party of President Nicolas Sarkozy, "which has a good environment minister" [Jean-Louis Borloo].

Even Sarkozy spoke about the controversy. The French president said he "did not understand" the polemic surrounding the film. "If there is a mission for public TV, it is to explain environmental challenges to citizens," Sarkozy said.

The press reported that France 2 had hesitated before releasing the film. At the time of the release, an anchor explained that the date for the broadcast of 'Home', in 134 countries simultaneously, had been decided long before the date of the EU elections was set.

Positions:

Brice Teinturier, deputy director of pollsters TNS-SOFRES told EurActiv: "The movie ‘Home’ certainly reinforced voters in their choice to vote for ‘Europe Ecologie’ lists, but didn’t create the phenomenon. In a survey released on Tuesday 2 June, we announced the Ecologistes were on 13.5%, whereas the Modem lists had only 11%.” TNS-SOFRES confirmed this in a second survey on 3-4 June, before the film was broadcast (‘Europe Ecologie’ 15.5%; Modem 12.5%).

He insisted that the French are conscious about environmental issues: "There is a certain sensibility on this theme, and but we have noticed this trend for three years."