DELTA - Oil's Dirty Business

In the Niger Delta, oil companies plunder resources, poison the land, and ignite violence, turning a once-thriving region into a battleground of exploitation and resistance.

Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos

FIPA D’ARGENT, Festival International des Programmes Audiovisuels (FIPA), Biarritz, France, February 2007

DELTA - Oil's Dirty Business

In the Niger Delta, oil companies plunder resources, poison the land, and ignite violence, turning a once-thriving region into a battleground of exploitation and resistance.

64 min     2007     Full HD

Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos

FIPA D’ARGENT, Festival International des Programmes Audiovisuels (FIPA), Biarritz, France, February 2007

SYNOPSIS

At the Delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, where a vast proportion of the planet’s oil is excavated, bomb attacks, abductions and murders form part of the daily routine. The documentary portrays the image of “development”, as giant multinational petroleum companies would define it. Petroleum leaks in the River destroy the flora and fauna, poison the food chain and consequently wipe out the 27 million indigenous people of the area – the Ijaws, the Ogoni and the Itsekiris.

The inhabitants dare to ask the self-evident, they demand an end to it. As a response they are being massively and brutally attacked by special forces of the army and the police, which are armed by the oil companies. On the river the camera meets militia of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta—MEND—and, for the first time, presents to the world shattering images of their speed boat patrols and heavy weaponry.

The Delta of Niger is a lost paradise. As the documentary reveals, it is a place where despite the natural beauty, contemporary “globalized” hell prevails.

TAKE ACTION

Spark the conversation and help us spread the message of the film.

Organize a screening

Host a screening of the film in your city / community and get people together.

Bring the film in your classroom

Share the film with your students to kick off the conversation.

Library Use

Are you interested in enriching the library of your institution with our film? Contact us and let’s create together an informed public!

MAIN CREDITS

Written, Produced & Directed By: YORGOS AVGEROPOULOS

Research Coordinator: APOSTOLIS KAPAROUDAKIS

Production Manager: ANASTASIA SKOUBRI

Director of Photography: YIANNIS AVGEROPOULOS

Editing: DIMITRIS NIKOLOPOULOS, MELETIS PONGKAS

Music: YIANNIS PAXEVANIS

Graphics: SAKIS PALPANAS

 

 
A SMALL PLANET PRODUCTION FOR GREEK PUBLIC TELEVISION ERT © 2006-2007