The True Cost of Oil – October 16 San Francisco

“The True Cost of Oil”

Film Shorts and Panel Discussion

credit: Candace Schermerhorn

Join: Justice in Nigeria Now, Amazon Watch and the CounterCorp Film Festival for a night of film shorts related to the true cost of oil in Nigeria and the Amazon.

When: Thursday, October 16 7:15pm-9:15pm

Where: Brava Theater 2781 24th Street(@ York Street) San Francisco

Cost: $10 ($5 with student id)

Films clips include:

The Naked Option: A Last Resort A work in progress by Candace Schermerhorn – A film about 600 Nigerian women who peacefully protested Chevron’s human rights and environmental abuses with only the threat of publicly stripping naked – a culturally unacceptable taboo.

Sweet Crude: A documentary now in post-production, tells the story of Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta. The region is seething and the global stakes are high. But in this moment, there’s an opportunity to find solutions. What if the world paid attention before it was too late?

Justicia Now! A documentary about Chevron’s toxic legacy in the Ecuadorian Amazon and a courageous group of people called Los Afectados (The Affected Ones) who are seeking justice for the ensuing cancer, sickness and death in the largest environmental class action lawsuit in history.

The films will be followed by a panel discussion.

Panelists include: Cindy Cohn, attorney in the upcoming litigation happening this fall in San Francisco against Chevron in Nigeria – Bowoto v. Chevron, Mitch Anderson, Corporate Accountability Campaigner at Amazon Watch, Nigerian activist Ayo Ajisebutu and others.

Contact: 415-575-5521or info@justiceinnigerianow.org

Photo Credit: Kendra E. Thornbury for Sweet Crude

Filmmaker Sandy Cioffi Speaks about MEND

There is much controversy around the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in Nigeria.  Watch and listen  to the perspective of filmmaker Sandy Cioffi from her interview on Democracy Now in May of this year. Sandy is another filmmaker who was detained by the Nigerian police earlier this year.

American filmmaker returned to US after detainment by Nigerian government

Re-posted from helpandy.wordpress.com

NEW YORK, September 11, 2008 –Andrew Berends, the American filmmaker who had been detained by Nigerian State Security Services was returned to the United States Wednesday. He was escorted to his plane by Nigerian immigration officers without an explanation as to why he was being sent home. Berends was never charged with a crime, and had a legal business visa in his passport at the time of his detainment.

His Nigerian translator, Samuel George, has been provisionally released, but is expected to return to the State Security Services offices at noon on Friday, along with a third man who had also been detained. The status of any investigation against them is still uncertain.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) jointly sponsored a letter, written to the President of Nigeria calling for Berends’ immediate release, and signed by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Robert Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and John Kerry (D-MA).

This is the third in a string of similar detainments of American journalists in the past two years by the Nigerian government. Most recently, five members of the crew making the documentary film “Sweet Crude” were detained for seven days, before ultimately being released without being charged.

Berends says, “I am extremely disappointed with this pattern of suppressing press freedom in Nigeria. It calls into question the Nigerian government’s sincerity when it comes to upholding the basic tenets of democracy since the transition from military rule in 1999.”

Berends was in Nigeria working on his documentary film, “Delta Boys,” about the militancy in the Niger Delta. He had been arrested at Nembe Waterside in Port Harcourt along with his translator, Samuel George, while filming women on their way to market. He had been granted permission to film by the military sergeant in charge in the area.