"Documentary filmmaking is still the last bastion for truth telling," "It's very sad that Dole has now shown their support for Chevron's attack on Joe Berlinger."
Chevron Corp. is embroiled in a 17 year battle over allegations of environmental destruction in Ecuador, and is presenting oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York today, in a related battle. Chevron wants all the outtakes from director Joe Berlinger's 2009 documentary "Crude."
What is at stake from a journalistic point of view is the question of whether, if all outtakes must be made public - whistleblowers or even concerned citizens will be afraid to speak up in the future. How much braver will they have to be if they know that anything at all they say can be made public and dragged through the courts?
About "Crude" :
The film follows the progress during 2006 and 2007 of a $27 billion legal case brought against the Chevron Corporation following the drilling of the Lago Agrio oil field, a case also known as the "Amazon Chernobyl".
The plaintiffs of the class action lawsuit are 30,000 Ecuadorians living in the Amazonian rainforest they claim has been polluted by the oil industry. In addition to the legal struggle, Crude shows interviews from both sides, and explores the influence of media support, celebrity activism, the power of multinational corporations, the shifting power in Ecuadorian politics, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures on the case.
The film concludes with the prediction that the legal case will not be resolved for another decade or so. - http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The free speech question:
The LA Times has a very good piece on this this morning:
Berlinger, several other filmmakers (including Robert Redford), the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and numerous media companies argue that the lawsuit will have a chilling effect on documentary filmmaking beyond this project. They note that Dole, which sued documentary director Fredrik Gertten for defamation, is also backing Chevron in its lawsuit. "The risk here is if all of [the outtakes] can be ordered produced ... other outtakes far too routinely will be made available in the future," Abrams said. Consequently, people "may well be discouraged to talk to filmmakers," he added.
Chevron calls "Crude" "an unapologetic work of propaganda" while Berlinger defends his feature-length movie as "a very fair and balanced film."
The Times piece is well worth reading, and the case may well be very significant for the future of documentary filmmaking, and free speech in general. Michael Moore where are you?