Dirty Oil screening & QA with Producer Mark Cranwell and Chris Shearlock

The Frontline Club are hosting a screening of Dirty Oil followed by a Q&A with Producer Mark Cranwell and Chris Shearlock, Environment Manager of The Co-operative Group

It is a little known fact that America imports the majority of its oil from Canada and not the Middle East. For years, Americans have been fueling what has been touted as the largest and most polluting industrial project on the planet today. Extracting oil from tar sands emits three times more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil and uses four times as much water and heat per barrel of oil. The demand and toll this process is taking on the land, air, water and wildlife around the Athabasca River and the downstream communities from Ft. McMurray is not only toxic but also irreversible. In early 2008 Babelgum, an online and mobile video service, which has a focus on environmental issues, commissioned its first original production from which Downstream and Dirty Oil are the result. Dirty Oil looks at an issue that is not just an Alberta or Canadian story but a global story. The oil sands have garnered an increasing amount of attention from all sides of the issue.

Narrated by Canadian actress Neve Campbell, this beautifully photographed feature documentary from Academy Award Nominated director Leslie Iwerks goes deep behind-the-scenes into the strip-mined world of Northern Alberta, Canada.

Here, vast and toxic oil sands supply the U.S. with the majority of its oil. Told through the eyes of scientists, "big oil" officials, politicians, doctors, environmentalists, and aboriginal citizens directly affected by "the largest industrial project on the planet today", the filmmakers journey to both sides of the border to uncover the emotional and irreversible impact this "black gold rush" is taking on our planet.

Dirty Oil is produced by Alberta born and Emmy Award winning producer Philip Alberstat, and co-produced by Mark Cranwell and Randy Bradshaw.

Director: Leslie Iwerks
Starring: Neve Campbell, Andrew Nikiforuk, Lester Brown, Mike Hudema
France 2009, 73 mins, English

Dirty Oil screening & QA with Producer Mark Cranwell and Chris Shearlock

Where:
The Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London, W2 1QJ

When:
7:00pm, Fri 30 Jul, 2010

More info:
And tickets over at the Frontline's website or http://www.dirtyoil.co.uk/