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Producer of "Crude" fights for his 1st Amendment rights against California based Chevron

Submitted by Tjadendevries on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 2:35pm


Chevron Vs. Filmmaker

Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: April 26, 2010

    A documentary filmmaker says he will fight a request by Chevron to turn over hundreds of hours of footage he shot for a documentary about pollution in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. ...

    [...]

    The movie, seen in a scene above, chronicles Ecuadoreans who sued Texaco, which is now owned by Chevron, saying the companies’ practices at the Lago Agrio oil field resulted in the contamination of their drinking and bathing water. Mr. Berlinger, who is scheduled to appear in United States District Court in Manhattan on Friday, said Chevron’s request violated his First Amendment rights. If Chevron obtained his footage, he said, “It would have a serious chilling effect on these kinds of investigative films.”

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