'Power Struggle' -the Niger Delta and Corrib Gas Film Screening and Panel Discussion

national | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Friday July 03, 2009 13:29 by Fleadh - Galway Film Fleadh

Screening of Sweet Crude at the Galway Film Fleadh

Where: Town Hall Main Theatre Galway.
When: Thursday 9 th July 2.00 PM

A special screening of ‘Sweet Crude’ a new documentary on the Oil industry’s effects on communities in the Niger Delta.will take place on Thursday 9th July in the Town Hall Theatre Galway. This will be followed by 'Power Struggle' an open, chaired, discussion comparing the situation in the Niger Delta with the controversial Corrib Gas Project in Erris Co Mayo.

Tickets from the Town Hall Theatre 091- 569777 or www.tht.ie
Full Fleadh Programme available at www.galwayfilmfleadh.com

Sweet Crude
The documentary film Sweet Crude is the story of the Niger Delta, the human and environmental consequences of 50 years of oil extraction, the history of non-violent protest, and the members of a new insurgency who, in the three years since the filmmakers met them as college students, became the young men of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Discussion Panel Members:

Chair: Dr Andy Storey, Chairperson of AfrI Action from Ireland NGO and Lecturer in Development Studies at UCD.
Dr Storey worked for Trocaire in Rwanda immediately after the conflict there, and has written extensively on resources, exploitation and the external trade policies of the EU. His organisation AfrI have recently been involved in awareness raising efforts around the laying of the Corrib Gas pipeline in Erris.

Sandy Cioffi, Director of Sweet Crude :

Sweet Crude director Sandy Cioffi is a Seattle-based film and video artist. She has produced and/or directed several films, including the critically acclaimed Crocodile Tears , Terminal 187 and Just Us . Sandy has been a frequent guest on National Public Radio and is often called upon as a speaker to address independent media trends. She has recently been interviewed on CNN International, Marketplace, Democracy Now and ABC Nightline to discuss the current situation in the Niger Delta.

Michael McCaughan, Journalist and Author of ‘The Price of Our Souls-Gas Shell and Ireland’.
Michael McCaughan was the Latin America correspondent for the Irish Times and Guardian newspapers, he is the author of three books ‘ The Battle for Venezuela’, ‘True Crimes: The life and Times of Rudolfo Walsh’ and most recently ‘The Price of Our Souls-Gas, Shell and Ireland’ which deals with the situation in the Erris peninsula.

Willie Corduff, Erris resident and winner of the International Goldman Prize for the Environment in 2007.
Willie is a long-standing opponent of the Corrib Gas project. Generations of his family have lived and farmed in the immediate vicinity of the proposed high-pressure pipeline. He has lived all his life in Erris and along with the four other Erris men who became known as the Rossport Five, he was jailed for over 90 days as a result of his opposition to the project. In 2007 he was awarded ‘The Goldman Prize for the Environment’ the largest prize in the world for grassroots environmental activists. Along with many other members of his community he is part of a group called Pobail Chill Chomain who are opposed to the current proposed situation of the pipeline but have proposed compromise solutions to the ongoing conflict that have not been accepted by either the Irish Government or the Corrib Gas syndicate.

Note for editors: Corrib Gas Representatives, The Mayo Pro Gas Group and Fr Kevin Hegarty a public supporter of the project were all invited to have places on our panel but all declined the invitation.