What A Trip: a committed festival

When an international festival of travel and adventure is committed to Earth and Men, it gives the What A Trip, the committed festival of Montpellier!

2017 was the year of the first edition of the What A Trip festival, the WAT for intimates. Since then, this great event has grown steadily. It takes place every year, at the end of September, in the heart of Montpellier. How? Thanks to an impressive film and associative programming, a convivial atmosphere and four exciting days around the world and its stakes.

Projections , film competitions, meetings, exhibitions, conferences, workshops, concerts, foodtrucks : not the time to get bored. Behind the crowd of joy, the seventh art and festivities, the WAT’s goal is much bigger. His ultimate goal? Open minds, awaken consciences and carry out concrete actions for the Earth and the Human. Overview of What A Trip, most committed festivals dedicated to travel and adventure .

Environmental commitment

Yes, the commitments of the What A Trip go well beyond the images on the film. Through its film festival, the WAT wants to highlight the planet and the peoples who live there.

The program, as well as the film and photographic selection of the festival, make the beauty and fragility of the world palpable. Sharing, respecting communities and preserving the planet are WAT’s DNA.

This committed festival has therefore been built around actions in favour of the living, before, during and after its development: focusing on reusable and recyclable components, proposing reasonable and local restoration spaces, limiting the ecological footprint of the event, reducing and enhancing waste, communicating responsibly, raising awareness of sustainable development, supporting local associations and solidarity causes...

1% for the planet

What A Trip is a member of the association 1% for the planet . This means that 1% of the revenue related to the sale of entry tickets is donated in favor of the preservation of the environment. 1% for the planet a mission is to promote environmental philanthropy and to encourage substantive research on the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity.

The organization collects donations and remits them to registered associations that act in favor of climate, food, natural spaces, wildlife, water and air.

The Blue Zone, for the preservation of the oceans

The WAT has created a space entirely dedicated to the protection of the seas and oceans: the Blue Zone . The main objective of this area is to educate and raise awareness among festival-goers about issues related to the conservation of marine environments. Blue Zone hosts environmental protection associations, invited to present their projects and their fields of action.

Blue Zone is also the scene of various workshops that attract public attention in a playful way to environmental issues. Games, climate frescoes, animations, sorting workshops: small and large put the hand to the dough between two projections.

The organizers of the WAT festival, aware that the first pollutants of the seas and oceans remain plastic and snails, distribute pocket ashtrays free of charge on the village.

Objective zero plastic

In addition to promoting films on travel and adventure, the WAT festival has a clear goal since its creation: abolishing plastic. To become a zero plastic film festival, the What A Trip is accompanied by Drastic on Plastic .

This device helps festival organizers to remove, totally or in large part, disposable plastic production. Thanks to the support of this partner and that of Océan Protection France , the WAT finally managed to get the plastic out of his bar.

Waste management

Together with the removal of plastic, waste recovery is a top priority for this committed festival. To ensure the true future of biowaste harvested by the Green Team of the festival, the WAT joined the association Compostons .

This Montpelliéraine organisation works to prevent and manage bio-waste through composting. The organic materials generated during the four-day travel and adventure film festival are transformed into nourishing products for soils and useful for local producers.

Reasonable and durable, even at the table

The festival WAT collaborates with local providers and suppliers. Thus, the foodtrucks which delight the village of the trip offer only local and seasonal recipes. To delight the professionals, art lovers and families gathered around a cosmopolitan film programme... without forgetting the Occitania region!

No waste

Epicurism and food stands are an integral part of the life of a festival. However, as a committed festival, the WAT collects the unsold foodtrucks present on the village of the festival to distribute them to the homeless. This gesture encourages food anti-gaspillage and solidarity towards the poorest.

The large redistribution operation is ensured by Delivrue . This Montpelliérain citizen movement aims to survey the routes used by homeless people in order to bring them meals.

If Delivrue has its own cohort of cooks, it also collects food supplies and good dishes from organizations such as WAT. Much more than feed the most disadvantaged, this movement allows to weave social bond and break taboos around the street world.

Societal commitment

The WAT is an environmental and societal festival. This is why his actions also show great attention to humans. Respect for others, gender equality, solidarity, this remarkable line of conduct is illustrated in several ways.

Pedagogy at the heart of action

The WAT attracts a wide range of eager visitors to discover the world and its populations. Close to young people and new generations, the What A Trip especially wants to educate them and raise awareness of environmental and social issues. In addition to projections, conferences, workshops within the Blue Zone , some projections are exclusively for educational purposes.

Classes of primary, college and high school attend a screening and meet the film teams. Teachers integrate the film into the annual program, which then becomes an awareness-raising and open-minded support for young people.

Operation in solidarity

Each year, the WAT supports an invited association to hold a stand throughout the festival. The latter can then present its actions to the public. Even more, the What A Trip has set up a system of solidarity. Each festival-goer who buys a consumption can give a gift of 1€ to the association by making the glass recorded.

This year (like last year), the film festival will highlight Association women invisible . It aims to help women without a fixed home. The members meet these poor women in order to identify their needs and to respond to them as best as possible.

“Invisible women” offers mainly women’s hygiene products and periodic protections during maraudes and partner operations. In addition to the collection and distribution of these hygiene kits, members regularly ask the public authorities and the general public about menstrual precariousness and homeless women in general.

A festival in the heart of Montpelliéraine associative life

Because amazing or opening up on the world also goes through home, the film festival is associated with many Montpelliéraine associations. The WAT allows them to gain popularity and to expose their missions to the general public.

The What A Trip thus grows its initiatives and values while helping the structures that need material or individuals engaged to live and persist.

Getting to the What A Trip Festival 2022