Cate Blanchett will be a guest speaker at a symposium on sustainability on 17 October in Vienna, Austria.

Cate has began doing press for Borderlands directed by Eli Roth which will be out on 9 August. Warwick Thornton’s THE NEW BOY is out now in cinemas in Belgium, interview below with Cate during 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Google translated from German to English.

The internationally renowned actress, producer and advocate of human rights and climate solutions, Cate Blanchett, is the star guest at the ÖGNI Sustainability Symposium, which will take place on October 17, 2024 at the Hofburg Vienna. Also presented will be solutions for a sustainable future of the real estate industry, which international experts will develop beforehand in two days of workshops.

“When we think about sustainability, we think of renewable energy, electric cars or green technologies – but we often overlook the enormous impact that buildings have on our carbon footprint,” explains Blanchett about the role of the real estate industry in a sustainable future, “the physical environment – our homes, workplaces, places of leisure – is an enormous part of what we leave behind for future generations. There is considerable potential and great opportunities when we become aware of the power of the built environment to shape a sustainable future.”

Blanchett has been committed to implementing viable solutions in the field of climate and environmental protection for years. She is a member of the Earthshot Prize Council and the first ambassador for the Wakehurst Botanical Garden and the Millennium Seed Bank. Blanchett is also a life member of the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy – and recently began producing the Audible Original Podcast Climate of Chance.

About the event: “Sustainability: Turning Intentions into Impact”

On October 16 and 17, 2024, the Austrian Society for Sustainable Real Estate (ÖGNI) is organizing a symposium on sustainability in the DACH (Germany-Austria-Switzerland) region for the first time in its history.

The symposium is entitled “Sustainability: Turning Intentions into Impact” and aims to provide practical support for the transformation of the building sector and related industries towards sustainability.

The closing event will take place at the Hofburg Vienna on October 17, 2024, with admission starting at 5:30 pm. The results of the expert panels will be presented during this event. A moderated discussion with Cate Blanchett is also on the program – ÖGNI Managing Director Peter Engert: “The fact that we were able to attract such a high-profile personality as a star guest underlines the importance of sustainable transformation.”

Established companies in the real estate industry and selected start-ups in the field of sustainability will also have the opportunity to present their products and services. And networking will also be
will not be neglected with a buffet dinner and drinks.

Attendance at the event is by invitation and registration only.

The ÖGNI – Austrian Society for Sustainable Real Estate is an NGO (non-governmental organization) for establishing sustainability in the construction and real estate industry. The aim of the ÖGNI is to demonstrate the added value of building certifications in order to create environmentally and resource-friendly buildings with high economic and social efficiency that can be used flexibly across generations and have a positive effect on the health, well-being and performance of the users. The ÖGNI was founded in 2009 and is a cooperation partner of the DGNB (German Society for Sustainable Building), whose certification system was adopted, adapted to Austria and has been continuously developed since then. The ÖGNI is the only Austrian council to be an “established member” of the WorldGBC (World Green Building Council) and strives to strengthen the European quality certificate at an international level.

Interview on The New Boy

Google translated from Dutch to English.

VRT NWS asked Blanchett three questions in Cannes.

1. What is so fascinating about Sister Eileen?

Cate Blanchett has lived in the English countryside with her family of four children for years. For this film she returned to her native Australia. She was keen to collaborate with her compatriot Warwick Thornton, whose work she had always admired. Thornton showed her the screenplay for ‘The New Boy’, and she was immediately fascinated. But in the original script, the head of the institution was a priest.

When Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton, who came on board with her as a producer, came up with the idea of ??making the main character a nun, the ball really started rolling. Blanchett saw the opportunity to take on the role of Sister Eileen. She thought she was a fascinating character. A nun who likes to drink wine and loves Jesus, but whose world is turned upside down when a boy with magical powers ends up in her convent.

2. Is Blanchett herself religious?

Making another film in the south of Australia, where she grew up. That was like coming home for Blanchett. But there was another personal reason for supporting this film. Blanchett lost her father when she was ten years old. And although she was not raised religiously, she sought support and stability in the Catholic faith.

3. Is it Christianity’s fault?

While in the film the new boy is trying to adjust to the monastery, a truck suddenly arrives. A gigantic wooden crucifix is ??unloaded, which is given a central place in the much too small church. When the boy comes face to face with the figure of Christ, he is struck as if by the hand of God.

That event was taken from the life of the film’s director, Warwick Thornton. Little Warwick sometimes made things difficult for his mother in their Alice Springs home. And so she sent him to a Benedictine monastery in Western Australia, hoping to get him into line. There the boy walked into a church for the first time in his life. What he saw there made him tremble with fear: a tortured man nailed to a cross.

Just like in the movie, the arrival of the enormous statue completely unnerved the young Warwick. Aboriginal people have a very different, animistic religious experience. But it is considered inferior by Christians. And that, according to Warwick Thornton, is one of the great blunders of colonization. That Christianity always imposed its own will and was never open to what other cultures have to offer. Fortunately, there is hope for improvement, he thinks.

Video version here.

Source: OGNI