Downstream, the Modern Day David and Goliath Story of Big Oil in Canada

Did you notice that two weeks ago Suncor Energy of Canada agreed to buy rival Petro-Canada? The deal will create North America’s 5th biggest oil and gas producer and accelerate consolidation in the Alberta oil sands. The area currently produces 1MM barrels of oil/day.

Notably, the same week, U.S. filmmaker Leslie Iwerks’ Oscar® shortlisted documentary “Downstream”, the modern day David and Goliath story of “Big Oil” in Alberta, Canada, debuted online at http://www.babelgum.com/downstream, through new Web TV service Babelgum’s “Our Earth” channel dedicated to Nature and the Environment programming.

With Canada (not Saudi Arabia) as the U.S.’s primary source of oil, the film relates how one courageous doctor fights for the lives of the aboriginal people residing downstream from the oil sands of Alberta, one of the most polluting and burgeoning oil operations in the world.  The doctor spots a surprising increase in the rate of a rare type of cancer among the townspeople of Ft. Chipewyan, while the citizens have seen an increased amount of wildlife deformities in the river and ecosystem over the last 10 years.

The film has already exposed  the ‘downstream’ health issues of the oil production to a strong film festival audience, but online now is our chance to spread the word about it farther and wider.

The film even wound up creating an additional bit of unexpected controversy when Alberta’s government realized their Alberta Film Development Fund had subsidized $67,000 of the film.  To Iwerks’ credit, she did try to include the government’s side, but without much cooperation.  Intense national discourse and debate over future arts funding and freedom of artistic expression ensued, with a positive outcome.  Now, due to overwhelming positive feedback from the Canadian premieres last month, the MP leader of the democratic party in Ottawa, Olivia Chow, is hosting a public screening of the film in Toronto Today, April 14^th

Iwerks says. “‘Downstream’ is a story of humanity and the real environmental issues facing our planet. This story resonates on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border, and we should all heed the warning signs.”

By the way, you may want to check out an earlier Iwerks film (Oscar nominated 2006) “Recycled Life”, which chronicled the 1000s of people who have been living and working in the largest and most toxic landfill in Central American over the last 60 years, the Guatemala City Garbage dump.

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