30 MINS | 2020 | DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: JAMES MUIR | PRODUCER: ALISON TITULAER | NEW ZEALAND

All over the world Fossil Fuel industries have undermined communities and severely impacted the health of people and the planet. In Taranaki, New Zealand the hunt is on for easy oil and gas. The benign rural pastures that surround the base of Mt Taranaki, where people have carved out a quiet living, are riddled with the scars of Fossil Fuel extraction. Sarah Roberts and David Morrison are environmental award winning farmers who have worked the land for generations.

When an oil company moves in next door to their family farm, they are forced to deal with the effects of uncontrolled fracking and oil drilling along their quiet country road. Experiencing choking fumes, polluted water, bleeding noses and the constant smell like nail-polish remover the pair take up a struggle to defend their land, their heritage and their livelihood. The ensuing investigations reveal the lack of local government oversight, the flawed regulatory system and the dangerously negligent industry.

Meanwhile Fracking has spread quickly and oil companies have drilled under peoples homes, schools and towns. Surrounded by oil and gas wells, Sarah and David continue their pursuit of justice for the climate, for people and for the land by investigating for other communities. What started out as resistance to the desecration of the local countryside becomes a revelation of a local government system designed to protect profit before people.

Best Environmental Film Nominee

Screens with BAREFOOT: The Mark Baumer Story