Spilling Over: The Documentary

An ongoing documentary project following a Louisiana commercial fishing family as they cope with the longterm effects of the BP oil spill on their lives and livelihood. See the project website for more information.

2015 Trailer:

This project began as a summer fellowship exploring the social, political and economic tensions around energy in the United State for Powering A Nation. Here is the original project, published in July 2010….

Summer 2010: Venice, La., is facing extinction. The small fishing community, located just 50 miles away from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, is in jeopardy, as the BP oil spill has put the livelihood of the residents in danger. The people of Venice are now left with a difficult choice. Do they stay and risk their health for the sake of their history and culture? Or do they give up their jobs, their community and their heritage in an effort to flee the lasting effects of the oil spill?

MY ROLE:

  • Videographer/Photographer
  • Reporter
  • Embedded with the community for about three weeks during the height of the disaster, summer 2010

FULL CREDITS:
Camera and Sound by Jessey Dearing and Lauren Frohne
Additional footage by Elena Rue
Edited by Jessey Dearing
Graphics by Amanda Loy
Interviews by Jessey Dearing and Lauren Frohne

Jessey and I have continued working on this story and are currently in production on a longer film. You can find out more about the ongoing project and the 2013 updates at http://spillingoverthefilm.org.

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