Judge Rules That Filmmaker Must Give Footage to Chevron
This ruling represents a shocking setback for investigative documentary journalism. The IDA and filmmaker Patrick Creadon (I.O.U.S.A., Wordplay) are circulating an open letter to show suport for freedom of the press. More info to come in this space about how to sign on to the letter.
Juan Diego Pérez/Entendre Films An Ecuadorean cancer victim’s reflection in an oil-polluted stream near her home in the documentary “Crude.”
5:10 p.m. | Updated
A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday granted a petition by Chevron to issue a subpoena for hundreds of hours of footage from a documentary about the pollution of the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador and the oil company’s involvement.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of United States District Court said that the director Joe Berlinger would have to turn over more than 600 hours of footage from his documentary “Crude.” The film, which was released last year, chronicles the Ecuadorians who sued Texaco (now owned by Chevron) saying the operations of the companies’ oil field at Lago Agrio contaminated their water.
