What does it mean to be an ecological filmmaker? : Knut Erik Jensen’s work as eco-auteur

Norwegian filmmaker Knut Erik Jensen claims to be an ecological filmmaker. This article explores what this means. Selected examples of filmmakers’ unsound attitudes toward nature are discussed to provide a context for the proposed definition of ecological filmmaking. The latter, it is claimed, goes beyond green filmmaking, by both exemplifying and cueing proenvironmental attitudes. The proposal is to understand ecological filmmaking in terms of a cluster of intentions targeting appropriate attitudes toward the natural environment; the intention, for example, to appreciate nature on its own terms. Intentions alone, however, do not suffice, as the filmmaker’s ecologically appropriate goals must be realized in practice. A consideration of recurring features of Jensen’s cinematic style offers examples of how ecological intentions may be expressed in audiovisual works. It further raises questions about the extent to which a distinct ecological style would be the likely outcome of filmmakers’ widely acting on ecological intentions.