Filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s latest documentary focuses on the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, a 13 year battle between indigenous communities in Ecuador nearly destroyed by oil drilling and Chevron, one of the world’s largest oil companies. In a sophisticated take on the classic David and Goliath story, Berlinger crafts a portrait of the incredible team in the US and Ecuador who have pursued this case against all odds. He is at pains, too, to show the case from all sides: the scientists and lawyers employed by Chevron, Ecuadoran judges, activists and humanitarian organizers, and the dramatic intervention of Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa. CRUDE looks beyond compassion for the disenfranchised and the corruption of power to ask how justice itself is being defined in the 21st century. *Official selection, Sundance Film Festival 2009
Filmmaker Joe Berlinger in person
Presented in association with the Discovering Latin America Film Festival, www.discoveringlatinamerica.com and the Rainforest Foundation UK, www.rainforestfoundationuk.org