Chevron Vs. Filmmaker

[Judi Lynn]

Chevron Vs. Filmmaker
Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: April 26, 2010

A documentary filmmaker says he will fight a request by Chevron to turn over hundreds of hours of footage he shot for a documentary about pollution in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Chevron says the material may be useful in lawsuits accusing it of damaging the environment there. The filmmaker, Joe Berlinger, whose documentaries include “Paradise Lost” and “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” said he had been served with a request from Chevron for more than 600 hours of unused footage for his 2009 documentary “Crude.” The movie, seen in a scene above, chronicles Ecuadoreans who sued Texaco, which is now owned by Chevron, saying the companies’ practices at the Lago Agrio oil field resulted in the contamination of their drinking and bathing water. Mr. Berlinger, who is scheduled to appear in United States District Court in Manhattan on Friday, said Chevron’s request violated his First Amendment rights. If Chevron obtained his footage, he said, “It would have a serious chilling effect on these kinds of investigative films.” Randy M. Mastro, a lawyer representing Chevron, said the company “simply seeks here outtakes relating to the access this filmmaker was given to film the plaintiffs and their lawyers, government officials and supposedly independent experts’ meetings with the plaintiffs and their lawyers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/arts/27arts-CHEVRONVSFIL_BRF.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Director of ‘Crude’ Will Resist Chevron’s Request for Footage

April 26, 2010, 12:10 pm
Director of ‘Crude’ Will Resist Chevron’s Request for Footage
By DAVE ITZKOFF

http://graphics8.nytimes.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2010/04/26/arts/crudeAB.jpg

Juan Diego Pérez/Entendre Films
An Ecuadorean cancer victim’s reflection in an oil-polluted stream near her
home, in the documentary “Crude.”

4:13 p.m. | Updated

A documentary filmmaker says he will fight a request by Chevron to turn over hundreds of hours of footage he shot for a documentary about pollution in the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador, film the company says may be useful in lawsuits it faces accusing it of damaging the environment there.

The filmmaker, Joe Berlinger, whose previous documentaries include “Paradise Lost” and “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” said that he had been served with a request from Chevron for more than 600 hours of unused footage for his 2009 documentary “Crude.” The movie chronicles Ecuadorians who sued Texaco, which is now owned by Chevron, saying the companies’ practices at its Lago Agrio oil field resulted in the contamination of their drinking and bathing water.

Mr. Berlinger, who is scheduled to appear Friday in United States District Court in Manhattan, said Chevron’s request for subpoena was a violation of his First Amendment rights and that he was opposing the request on principle. “I would equally be resisting a subpoena from the plaintiffs,” he said Monday in a telephone interview.

Mr. Berlinger said that if the oil company obtained his footage, “it would have a serious chilling effect on these kinds of investigative films.” “If I can’t promise my subjects that kind of confidentiality, I fear I and others won’t be able to make these kinds of films again,” he said.

More:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/director-of-crude-will-resist-chevrons-request-for-film-footage/

[subsuelo]

2. Crude the Movie

http://www.crudethemovie.com/

Joe Berlinger is a hero and we should support him.

[protocol rv]

4. What does the film say?

From what I hear, a lot of the pollution in Ecuador has been caused by the state-owned oil company. Does he say that?

[Wilms]

3. Thanks for posting. n/t