The Sweet Crude crew returned to Nigeria April 4th to wrap up filming. They will be there for 2+ weeks capturing final footage and interviews. Stay tuned for updates from the field.

The Cascade Festival of African Films screened the Sweet Crude work-in-progress February 28th. The overflow crowd stuck around for an hour and a half to discuss the film and ask questions. In conjunction with the screening, Sandy was interviewed by The Oregonian (listen here) and the Thom Hartmann show on KPOJ radio (listen here).

Check out the Sweet Crude promotional reel, the latest addition to our video gallery, for a preview of the story, the issues and the film’s key characters.

Sweet Crude screened a work-in-progress to a sold-out crowd at the Seattle International Film Festival June 15th, with a second, well-attended screening the following day. The film was received with overwhelming enthusiasm. The Q&A sessions with filmmaker Sandy Cioffi and special Nigerian guest Joel Bisina included some very thoughtful, action-oriented questions. Thanks to everyone who turned out.

Portland, OR: Thursday February 28 2008, 7:30 p.m. Cascade Festival of African Films. Screening followed by Q&A with filmmaker Sandy Cioffi.

Whidbey Island, WA: October 10 2007, Whidbey Institute. Screening followed by Q&A with filmmaker Sandy Cioffi and Niger Delta activist Joel Bisina.

Syracuse, NY: October 19 2007, Palace Theatre. Screening followed by Q&A with filmmaker Sandy Cioffi. Sebastopol, CA: October 27 & 28 2007, West County Film Festival. Screening followed by Q&A with filmmaker Sandy Cioffi.

Seattle, WA: March 31 2007, Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival. Filmmaker Workshop with selected clips. Sandy was also on the panel for the festival’s Environmental Justice session.

On January 8th, 2007, ABC news aired segments on World News and Nightline about oil and the Niger Delta. We believe these to be inflammatory, sensationalistic pieces. Their overwhelming focus on terrorism can only serve to fuel antipathy toward the Niger Delta people, obscuring the real issues and lessening the hope of world community intervention to bring peace to the region.

The Nightline segment included Sweet Crude footage and an interview with director Sandy Cioffi. The online story features photos credited to “Sweet Crude/Sandy Cioffi.” We provided this material to ABC in an effort to raise awareness about the plight of the Delta’s people. We had extensive discussions with ABC producers about the many complexities in the region – specifically MEND militants and the organization’s increasingly factionalized margins – and how critical it is to give accurate context when reporting on them. We believe this concern was entirely ignored. Our footage and photos were used to support a story we would never tell in this way, in some instances implying facts we know to be untrue.

That ABC chose to repeat the words “terror,” “terrorism” and “terrorists” 43 times in their on-air and online coverage plays to an agenda of fear and anger, which recent history has shown us can all too easily lead to military action under the guise of “protecting” U.S. interests. We are offended to have been included in such a report.

You can help us fight back by letting ABC know your thoughts about this coverage. Send a strong message here.

We are working with several media outlets to get our views on the ABC coverage out there. If you missed the Nightline broadcast, you can view it here.

Sandy did a live broadcast interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. Read the transcript or stream the archived audio or video here.

Listen to Sandy’s live call-in conversation from Nigeria with Steve Scher on KUOW’s Weekday.

Sandy’s conversation with American Public Media Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal garnered international interest. Read the transcript or listen to the audio stream here.

Seattle Filmmaker Brings the Niger Delta Crisis to the Screen at SIFF. Congressman Jim McDermott to Join Audience Q&A Session. Read our latest press release.