Over the past decade, Finnish writer/director Aku Louhimies has established himself as one of the preeminent directors of Scandinavian cinema today. Among his nine feature films are the European film award nominees 8-Ball (2013) and Frozen Land (2005), and he’s also responsible for the highly acclaimed 2016 five-part TV event series, Rebellion, about the birth of independent Ireland.

But the dedicated father of five is also passionate about using the medium of film for social and environmental constructive purposes and has pulled off something that could be a game-changer for both the film industry and the environment. His upcoming film, Odotus (The Wait) – an adaptation of a book about a 19th-century romance set on an island in the Finland Archipelago Sea – will become the first carbon-negative feature film in history.

“We know that film productions aren’t responsible for most of the pollution, but we kind of felt like because we can, we’ll do it,” the prominent filmmaker tells Finnish HFPA journalist Kirpi Uimonen in this episode of our podcast series, “Golden Globes Around the World.”

“It was all shot on an island, so we had a very concise crew, and all of the electricity we used was produced by the solar panels on that island,” Louhimies explained during the insightful conversation about his extraordinary career. “We didn’t really have any travel; except we moved the crew around the island in electric buses and all the costumes and props and sets were recycled. Even the catering was plant-based and local, so it became really important for everybody who was taking part in the film.”