A ‘first final cut’ of Craig Rosebraugh’s new film about the power of the oil industry, the global warming disinformation campaign, and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil blowout disaster was screened on September 13 at the international conference on Culture, Politics, and Climate Change in Boulder, Colorado.
I was interviewed for this film. The several minutes of the film dealing with the specific issues I raised are presented accurately and well in the version that was screened in Boulder.
The film will have another advance screening on September 23 at the Boston Film Festival, then will have its ‘world premiere’ at the United Nations Association International Documentary Film Festival, which will be held at various California venues in late October. Description on the festival websites:
What happens when one industry has too much power? Politicians become pawns. Laws are created and prevented. Regulations are bypassed. Information is controlled. Dissent is stifled. Our climate changes. And people die.
“Greedy Lying Bastards” presents a searing indictment of the influence, deceit and corruption that defines the fossil-fuel industry. From the Gulf Coast to the tiny nation of Tuvalu, from Nigeria and Uganda to Peru and Alaska, filmmaker and political activist Craig Rosebraugh documents the impact of an industry that has continually put profits before people, waged a campaign of lies designed to thwart measures on climate change, used its clout to minimize infringing regulations and undermined the political process in the U.S. and abroad.
“Greedy Lying Bastards” website
From a statement by director Craig Rosebraugh on the film screened in Boulder:
This particular version of the film contains two related storylines, yet ones that we chose to focus on with increased specificity to the point at which we decided to make them into two separate films. The first film “Greedy Lying Bastards” is focused on the climate change denial campaign waged by the oil industry to ensure our energy policies are not modified in a manner contrary to the industry’s effort to maximize profits.
The second film, yet to be named, is focused on the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. Our film crew, along with myself, shot hundreds of hours of footage in and around the Gulf of Mexico during the last couple of years documenting the victims, both who were lost in the explosion as well as those who continue to suffer ill health impacts from the oil and dispersant that was deployed to hide it. This project will be finished and released late in 2013.
What links these two films together … is an industry, which has thrived in a world of deregulation and has earned record profits at the expense of safety protocols/worker safety, political corruption, and environmental devastation. The same reckless decision-making, which led to BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion, also lies at the forefront of the continuous release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere causing the warming of the planet.
The disparity between science, popular opinion and political action on climate change continues to be far and extreme. My hope is that with the revision of this film exposing the widespread and heavily-funded denial campaign, we may help allow the science to prevail and provoke political action to curb the warming of the planet.
Earlier posts:
“Greedy Lying Bastards” – forthcoming film a “searing indictment” of the fossil fuel industry
“Craig Rosebraugh, a US filmmaker and political activist, has produced a feature-length documentary that demands to be seen,” writes Leo Hickman in the UK Guardian. “If the trailer and impressive roster of interviewees are anything to go by, it’s likely to cause quite a stir.”
Rally at US Capitol to end fossil fuel subsidies
White House sat on BP Gulf disaster photos: Where’s the ‘scientific integrity’ policy to cover that?
Climate Science Watch testimony at House Oversight Hearing (January 30, 2007)
“A Climate of Corporate Control” – public information and the need for inside information
Koch Industries multibillionaire Koch brothers bankroll attacks on climate change science and policy
“The Inquisition of Climate Science” takes down the denialists