Will filmmakers have to begin to destroy all of their footage that they have left over once their film is complete? How are filmmakers going to handle a reality where corporations can force filmmakers to compromise their sources and turn over unused footage to them?
At a time where BP is responsible for the leaking of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, what should those documenting the destruction be weary of if a precedent is set that corporations like Chevron can subpoena unused footage to take down plaintiffs who are challenging business practices and suggesting corporations should be held responsible or accountable for their actions?There are many more questions about the ramifications of this decision on filmmaking. The issue of journalistic privilege and documentary should be the subject of conversation for the next months especially if filmmakers unite and mount a visible effort in support of Berlinger's right to not hand over the footage to Chevron.
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The following is Associate Professor of Columbia College Chicago and documentary filmmaker Russell Porter's full response to the decision.
I am an Associate Professor at Columbia College Chicago with
almost forty years experience as a documentary filmmaker, journalist and
teacher on five continents. I have extensive experience of working with
indigenous people and their struggles to maintain their traditional ways of
life in the face of ever more destructive encroachment by extractive and
environmentally damaging industries.
I first visited the upper Amazon region of Ecuador in 1969-70 when I lived and
traveled through the then pristine Amazon regions bordering the Napo River, and
was privileged to visit several indigenous communities (including the Huaorani/
Waorani and Achuar people).
I returned to the region on a research trip in 1999 to see for myself how this
unique world had changed during my lifetime. I was appalled buy what my
Huaorani hosts showed me as a result of the impact of oil exploration and
extraction on their health and environment. I traveled with them to several
sites that were at least as damaged by oil spills and dumps (in
"piscinas") like those shown in the film "Crude" - which,
in my my view, if anything understates the impact on the culture, environment
and the ecosystems that have sustained these communities for millennia.
The Huaorani community I visited (in the remote Shiripuni region) had been
forced to relocate there since their traditional homeland had become
unsustainable as a result of the massive intrusion of oil industry machinery
and associated contamination and deforestation. I also visited the regions
around Lago Agrio featured in the film, and witnessed the total transformation
that the oil industry has cause to the environment integrity, health and
well-being of traditional indigenous people there, with the associated often
violent social destruction of their way of life.
The reported federal judgment that filmmaker Joe Berlinger must turn over his
outtakes to Chevron's defense lawyers strikes me as an arbitrary and dangerous
interpretation of the First Amendment. The role of independent documentary
filmmakers has almost totally replaced what was historically the function of
investigative journalism - in fact there is no difference between the
methodology and social/political function of filmmakers like Berlinger
and that of - say - Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the Watergate
scandal.
Without such scrutiny, It is my opinion that the ever-increasing corporate
malfeasance would go unchecked, to the detriment of society as a whole. It is
an intrinsic facet of our democratic system that such independent scrutiny is
allowed the full protection of the law.
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