Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands

CA, 2009, R Peter Mettler, 43 Min, OmU

Shot entirely from a helicopter, Peter Mettler's PETROPOLIS: AERIAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ALBERTA TAR SANDS (2009) offers an unparalleled view of the world's largest industrial, capital and energy project. Canada's tar sands are an oil reserve the size of England.

Extracting the crude oil called bitumen from underneath unspoiled wilderness requires a massive industrialized effort with far-reaching impacts on the land, air, water, and climate.

It's an extraordinary spectacle, whose scope can only be understood from far above.

In a hypnotic flight of image and sound, one machine's perspective upon the choreography of others suggests a dehumanized world where petroleum's power is supreme.

Trailer:

Leave it in the Ground
AT, 2013, R: Oliver Ressler, 18 Min, OmU

With the idyllic landscapes of Norway’s Lofoten archipelago as its background, Leave It in the Ground describes the climate crisis not as a technical and scientific problem, but as a political problem.

The film discusses how ecological and humanitarian disasters caused through global warming might topple old orders and open up possibilities that could lead to long-term social and political transformations, both positive and negative.