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OIL & WATER is the true story of two boys coming of age as they look for solutions to the global problem of reckless oil drilling following one of the world's worst toxic disasters. Their journeys lead them to explore what could be a more just future, not just for the people of the Amazon, but for all people around the world born with oil beneath their feet.
OIL & WATER is the coming of age story of two boys as they each confront one of the world's worst toxic disasters, the prolonged contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Texaco and other oil companies. Hugo comes to America to fight for the survival of his tribe, the Cofán, while David goes to Ecuador to launch the world's first company to certify oil as "fair trade." Can Hugo become the leader his tribe so desperately wants him to be? Will David clean up one of the world's dirtiest industries?
This film is an intimate portrait of two young people finding their voices and trying to beat incredible odds. Their journeys lead them to explore what could be a more just future, not just for the people of the Amazon, but for all people around the world born with oil beneath their feet. Eight years in the making OIL & WATER is a shocking and inspiring David and Goliath story.
78- and 55-minute versions on the same DVD
SDH Captioning for the Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing
Directed and Produced by Francine Strickwerda and Laurel Spellman Smith
Editor: Tracy Dethlefs
Cinematography: Diana Wilmar, Laurel Spellman Smith
Original Score: Erik Aho
Executive Producer for ITVS: Sally Jo Fifer
A co-production of Stir It Up Productions LLC and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
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"OIL & WATER reveals the social and ecological trauma of our global fossil fuel culture and how it shapes the lives of an indigenous population in Ecuador. The film also demonstrates the collaborative, visionary creativity that can also emerge from that space of pain, urgency, and love for humanity and our life support systems. I have followed the struggle of the Cofán people for decades and just when I thought all hope was lost, this film gives me reason for renewing my conviction in the power of struggle, the power of the people hit hardest by environmental injustice – and their allies – to imagine and forge new possibilities."
David Naguib Pellow, Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Author, Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice
"An important film – it puts a human face on the very real and severe consequences of our thirst for oil. Yet it also gives viewers hope in the way it shows how two young adults can make meaningful changes to the world around them."
Dr. Benjamin Sovacool, Director of Danish Center for Energy Technology, AU-Herning, Associate Professor of Law, Founding Director of the Energy Security and Justice Program, Vermont Law School, Author, Energy & Ethics: Justice and the Global Energy Challenge