A federal judge has allowed Chevron to subpoena filmmaker Joe Berlinger for hundreds of hours of footage not used for “Crude,” a 2009 documentary.
“Crude” is about the 17-year, $27.3 billion lawsuit brought against Chevron for allegedly dumping toxic oil waste in the Amazon sector of Ecuador.
The 30,000 residents of the area have filed a class action suit against Chevron, which assumed control of Texaco in 2001.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Berlinger cannot invoke the first amendment to protect his footage, a ruling that has some filmmakers alarmed. Some see their footage as comparable to journalists’ notes and should be protected by law.
News of the action has been widely reported and can be found in the Wall Street Journal, the Seattle Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Law.com via Yahoo! Finance, and the Houston Chronicle.
The full review of “Crude” can be found here.
“Crude” is available for rent.
Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net