Looking for Trouble

Judge orders filmmaker to hand over film, but stays order until May 31

A federal judge Wednesday afternoon ordered filmmaker Joe Berlinger to hand over all of his footage from his documentary Crude to oil giant Chevron.

But early today Judge Lewis Kaplan stayed his decision and any due date for production of the footage until May 31st. But he did not stay his decision pending appeal. Before Judge Kaplan’s ruling, the Ecuadorian plaintiffs suing Chevron for deliberately dumping toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest filed an emergency stay motion with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The motion says:

“For twent-five years, Chevron dumped billions of gallons of toxic waster into rivers, wells, drinking water and the land of thousands of indigenous residents and farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Now, after seventeen years of litigation, including nine years fighting jurisdiction in the Southern District, and an over seven year litigation in Chevron’s chosen forum of Ecuador involving 200,000 pages of evidence, 63,000 chemical sampling results, testimony from dozens of witnesses, and dozens of judicial field inspections, Chevron seeks to subpoena 600 hours of footage from a prominent documentary filmmaker (Joe Berlinger) whose film, Crude, helped to expose and publicize Chevron’s conduct in the Amazon.”

In the motion to appeal, the plaintiffs argue that Chevron’s demand for the film footage will be a blow against journalists’ rights and will set a dangerous precedent.