Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will invest one euro from every film submission fee collected to combat intensive clear-cuts in Estonia. The platform created by the Estonian startup Single.Earth gives money to forest owners for switching from clear-cutting to alternative forest management methods.

Black Nights Film Festival is donating one euro from every received film submission fee to a rising Estoninan greentech startup Single.Earth. The company will launch later this autumn with a mission to offer sustainable alternatives to the intensive clear-cutting methods currently used in forestry all-over the world.

The instigator of the initiative at the festival, Hannes Aava (head of press and communication) commented: „Although the COVID-19 crisis has been, and still continues to put stress on not just organisations but most societies around the globe, including the film industry, we seem to be losing focus from the bigger problems that lie ahead if swift global collective action is not taken.“

„Our resources for combating this as a culture organisation amidst a crisis are quite limited, but with this initiative, we hope to shed light on the problems that are acute in both the Estonian and global environmental policy. These issues seem to be largely ignored in the world’s entertainment business, which is far from operating sustainably. While not offering solutions to the problems of the film industry, we believe Single.Earth will offer solutions that can help to change the mindsets and ways we manage our forests in Estonia and elsewhere,“ he added.

“We’re extremely excited to work with one of the top film festivals in the world and help Black Nights take a giant step towards the sustainable future of the film industry,” said Merit Valdsalu, CEO and co-founder of Single.Earth.

Single.Earth is an Estonian deep tech startup disrupting corporate climate action to help businesses and organisations make a real impact on the climate and nature by making climate action a part of the business processes.