Interview with Joe Berlinger - Director of the documentary CRUDE

From http://www.witness.org | In this interview with WITNESS, Berlinger discusses his film CRUDE, a documentary that tells the story of 30,000 Ecuadoreans that are suing U.S. oil giant Chevron-Texaco for allegedly causing one of the worst environmental and humanitarian crisis in the world.

Berlinger discusses why he chose to make this film and what impact he hopes CRUDE will have.

CRUDE - a finalist in WITNESS 2009 Silverdocs Award - opened in NYC on September 9.

Here's more on the film from CrudeTheMovie.com: "...[CRUDE] is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. The inside story of the infamous Amazon Chernobyl case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. The landmark case takes place in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, pitting 30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco which merged with Chevron in 2001 spent three decades systematically contaminating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land. The plaintiffs allege that the pollution has created a death zone in an area the size of the Rhode Island, resulting in increased rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and a multiplicity of other health ailments. They further allege that the oil operations in the region contributed to the destruction of indigenous peoples and irrevocably impacted their traditional way of life. Chevron vociferously fights the claims, charging that the case is a complete fabrication, perpetrated by environmental con men who are seeking to line their pockets with the companys billions. The case takes place not just in a courtroom, but in a series of field inspections at the alleged contamination sites, with the judge and attorneys for both sides trudging through the jungle to litigate. And the battleground has expanded far beyond the legal process. The cameras rolled as the conflict raged in and out of court, and the case drew attention from an array of celebrities, politicians and journalists, and landed on the cover of Vanity Fair. Some of the films subjects sparked further controversy as they won a CNN Hero award and the Goldman Award, the environmental equivalent of the Nobel Prize."

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• documentary
• Ecuador
• oil
• pollution
• joe Berlinger
• Chevron
• Texaco
• united states
• interview
• crude
• video
• film
• court
• trial
• south america

[makokun9]

@jujujujuparisxx Except for Book of Shadows, which was a piece of shit. XD

[highervis]

I totally agree w/the point he makes at around 8:00 I wish everyone took this approach to investigative journalism, then I could have an easier time making sense of things. For example on one hand you have rampant environmental abuses from corporations on the other you have an environmental movement apparently strongly influenced by eugenicists and population reduction advocates

[jujujujuparisxx]

Joe, this is awesome. All films you make now in the future should treat far-reaching, global humanitarian/ecological/politi­cal issues.

[hamilhungary]

Cool

[rextantir]

ching ching