The contribution of cultural narratives – especially documentary films – to societal transformation processes has hardly been researched so far, although such films are often perceived as impulses for changes in awareness, belief, or behavior. Science communicators and important political bodies such as the European Commission, are increasingly recognizing the imaginative and emotionalising effects of cultural narratives, but their actual impact on the transition to a more ecologically sustainable society has not yet received enough attention from scholars and researchers.

By screening solution-oriented documentary films on ecological sustainability themes in a public setting and in conjunction with expert discussions and related practical workshops at the Volkshochschule Freiburg, the Visions of Sustainability project contributes to linking technical innovations more closely with urgently needed cultural and social transformation processes.

The Visions of Sustainability project goes beyond the flawed assumption that social transformations can be achieved by simply communicating scientific findings or providing new technologies. With a carefully curated series of films on the ICN themes “Climate,” “Ressources,” and “Well-being” that we select with our collaboration partner Greenmotions, we aim to generate new knowledge about cinematic storytelling can contribute to such transformation processes. The collaborative and participatory nature of our research is at the heart of the project.

The added value of the Visions of Sustainability project from a scientific perspective lies in the centrally important inclusion of environmental humanities in the Innovation Campus Sustainability (ICN) as well as the urgently needed inter- and transdisciplinary research into the role of cultural narratives and media-mediated storytelling in transformation processes towards a sustainable society.