Francine Strickwerda, Oil & Water - Shreveport, LA & Barbourville, KY

The latest update from filmmaker Francine Strickwerda, touring her film Oil & Water on the Southern Circuit:

Bloodshot Eyes, Full Heart  - Can’t Lose

After days packed with plane flights, long car drives, and film screenings, I head home to Seattle, Wash. today, but find myself wishing I could stay on this wild ride that is the Southern Circuit. My eyes are bloodshot, but my heart is full.

At Robinson Film Center in Shreveport, La. on Thursday night, I met with lovely students from Centenary College (I’m talking about you, the sweet filmmaking kid who flattered us by calling yourself “fanboy”!) and was part of a lively panel discussion with university professors Dalton Gossett (biological sciences) and David Hoass (economics), as well as Oliver Jenkins, Shreveport City Council member and president of Phillips Energy.  Thanks so much to these gentlemen and to the Robinson Film Center’s Meghan Hochstetler and Alex Kent, for structuring such a thoughtful conversation around OIL & WATER. Alex and Meghan charm the birds out of the trees with their passion for film and their commitment to promoting the well being of the Shreveport community. And the fact that they are both former newspaper reporters (like me) endeared me to them all the more. To top it all off, Meghan and Alex took me to the Center’s own restaurant for some delicious seafood gumbo. There’s a lot to love about the Robinson Film Center!

Then things got a little crazy. After a cancelled flight and a rental car mix up on Friday, I got lost on my way to Barbourville, Ky. Just when I started to really panic, I got a call from Diana Mills, foundation relations director at Union College, and she calmly filmmaker whispered me to campus. She and Union College President Marcia Hawkins welcomed me warmly to their newly updated theater for a screening that was big, but also, because everybody knows one another in this small town, intimate.

I was heartened by the kindness and enthusiasm of the audience, and enjoyed a conversation that was steeped in the community’s shared history. I was intrigued by the parallels that were drawn between the struggles of the Cofan people in OIL & WATER, and those of the people of Appalachia dealing with the coal industry. At the reception following the screening, I got to really dig in with some townspeople who shared their own stories of history and their pride of place, including one woman’s film project about local legend, Daniel Boone. I found myself falling for these people, and wondering how I could manage to find my way back to Barbourville.

As the evening wound down, Diana packed me a plate of leftover deserts from the screening and took me to “Scholar Holler” where the college put me up in my own apartment. There I ate my sweets and fell asleep watching an old Mae West film on TV. It was another magical night on the Southern Circuit.

Francine Strickwerda, Oil & Water - Cullowhee, NC

The latest update from filmmaker Francine Strickwerda, touring the Southern Circuit with her film Oil & Water:

Gratitude, Y'all

After eight long years making OIL & WATER, it feels unbelievably good to be taking the film on the road. I’m on the Southern Circuit film tour this week, taking eight flights to get to screenings and meet-ups in three Southern states in just six days.

I write this from a rocking chair at Ashville Regional Airport in North Carolina. This morning I ate grits for breakfast, and last night’s entertainment was the music of Blue Ridge Mountain bugs and a swim in my motel pool with one of the biggest insects I’ve seen since I was last in the Amazon. And I’m just so grateful to be here.

Gratitude is big this week as I travel solo on the Circuit.  I rarely spend much time alone anymore now that I have a three-year-old son whom I love to bits.  Thanks to my son’s amazing daddy (and OIL & WATER editor) Tracy Dethlefs, who’s doing double duty at home in Seattle, I get to be here. Every night before bed, Tracy holds storybooks up to his smart phone so I can read to our son via Skype. This calms my worrying mom brain so that I can continue to launch our new film “baby.”

The Southern Circuit is an amazing logistical feat, and I’m astonished by the territory covered and the people I’m getting to meet. This year the good people at South Arts are touring 18 films in communities all over the South.  And earlier this week on my first Circuit stop, Western Carolina University staff, students and faculty welcomed me to campus.  (Shouting out to Francis Ann Ortiz, Mike Corelli and Arledge Armenaki – ya’ll rock.)

I’ll admit, I was nervous. We’ve got many more festivals coming up, and a (PBS) World Channel broadcast next week (Sunday, Sept. 21, check your local listings!), but we’re really just getting started.  The Western Carolina students, these bright young people, put me right at ease and reminded me why I started making documentaries in the first place.

One young woman asked how to get people to really care about environmental problems like the ones in OIL & WATER. I’ve been mocked for being too earnest most of my life, and am pleased that I’m thrilled by this question.  My answer to her: pick something, even one thing that you care about, and find a way to push on it. And don’t give up.

Am I hopeful things can be turned around? I’m hopeful for Hugo Lucitante and the Cofan people whose struggle is explored in OIL & WATER. They number only about 1,000 people in Ecuador and another 1,000 in Columbia, and the dangers loom large. It’s not just the oil beneath their feet that the outside world wants to take; it’s all the natural resources on their land. But the Cofan should not be underestimated. They have a sophisticated understanding of the problems they are dealing with, and a powerful strategy for survival. Anything could happen, but I’m betting on the Cofan.

Another student asked what I liked most about making OIL & WATER. My favorite moments come from the time I spend with the camera behind me in what I call the “yummy cone of light” when someone opens up and tells me their story.  I am always humbled by the privilege it is to be entrusted with people’s stories, and following OIL & WATER’s stars Hugo Lucitante and David Poritz for eight years has been so satisfying. I’m grateful to them for the work they’re doing and for letting us shadow them for so long. And we know we were needy, noisy shadows sometimes, especially in the jungle. Thanks for hanging in there with us, guys. And to my co-director Laurel Spellman Smith, thank you for sharing this great adventure with me.

Lastly, I like being able to update audiences on new OIL & WATER news since we finished the film. This past summer there was another sizable oil spill near the Cofan village of Dureno. Now, for some good news. David’s company, Equitable Origin, has “fair trade” certified their first oil field in Columbia. The field will yield 250,000 barrels of EO certified oil a day, the equivalent of 25 percent of Columbia’s oil production. This is big news and I’m excited to see what Equitable Origin will do next.


Thanks again to the Southern Circuit and South Arts for giving filmmakers opportunities like these to reflect on their own journeys, and for making such an enriching experience possible. It’s a spectacular treat to be able to visit communities and have meaningful conversations about stuff that matters. And the grits, rocking chairs, and southern hospitality are pretty wonderful, too. I am grateful.

Laurel Spellman Smith, Oil & Water - Sheffield, AL

The latest update from filmmaker Laurel Spellman Smith, touring her film Oil & Water on the Southern Circuit:

Sheffield, Alabama in the beautiful Tennessee River Valley/Shoals area, was the last stop on my half of Oil & Water’s Southern Circuit tour. Francine is continuing the tour tonight Western Carolina University in Ashville, North Carolina. This is Sheffield’s first year participating in the Southern Circuit and I could feel the audience’s pent-up hunger for thought-provoking films. The question and answer session lasted for a full hour, with not a single audience member leaving the beautifully restored art deco Ritz theater. And after that was another hour of informal discussion in the theater lobby! Alabama is home to deposits of shale oil and gas which are currently unexploited but are drawing increasing interest from oil companies. Several people in the audience saw Oil & Water as a cautionary tale of what could happen in their own back yard.

But the Circuit isn’t just about the heady interactions between filmmakers and audiences during screenings, it can also be a fun way to introduce northerners to southern culture outside theaters and schools. So on a day off, my husband and I headed across the border to Savanna, Tennessee, the "catfish capital of the world" to weigh in (literally!) on a long-standing family feud. My husband's family was originally from the area and had divided loyalties between two venerable local catfish restaurants: Hagy's Catfish Hotel and River Heights Restaurant. We attempted the impossible, or at least the medically inadvisable: two meals of catfish and hushpuppies in one day. While both catfish fillets and whole catfish are served at the restaurants (deep fried in a cornmeal crust), traditionalists prefer the whole catfish and that is what we ordered. A dozen fish and two dozen hushpuppies later, our unanimous verdict was...a split decision. The fish was a higher quality and cooked to perfection at the Catfish Hotel, however we preferred the wonderfully seasoned and crunchy cornmeal batter used on the fish and in the hushpuppies at River Heights. The dining room at the Catfish Hotel is more quaintly decorated but River Heights has the more spectacular view of the Tennessee River. So both restaurants are excellent choices, depending on what you are looking for.

Catfish Capitol of the World

Catfish Hotel fish & puppies

River Heights Restaurant in Crump, TN - Catfish!

World's best hushpuppies at River Heights

Fried catfish is such a staple of southern cuisine that it is usually just called "fish" as if there is no other species or preparation imaginable. After my adventure, I am inclined to agree, although the grilled salmon back home in Seattle can give catfish a run for its money.

Laurel Spellman Smith, Oil & Water - Madison & Hapeville, GA

The latest update from filmmaker Laurel Spellman Smith, touring her film Oil & Water on the Southern Circuit:

Students of Madison High School

Yesterday was the first stop on my tour in Madison, Georgia, a ridiculously adorable small town an hour drive from Atlanta where teacher Steve DeLaigle welcomed me to his Film Appreciation class. (How cool is that for a high school class??) He normally starts the school year with horror films, but he made an exception by showing Oil & Water. (I guess it could be considered an environmental horror film). After screening the film, the students were a bit shy at first but warmed-up to an interesting discussion that focused on the filmmaking challenges of our 8-year-long story.

More students of Madison High School

Bonar Hall (Alex & Betty's home)

In Madison I was invited to stay at the meticulously restored 1830's home of Betsy Wagenhauser and Alex Newton – they are supporters of the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center and they graciously offered their guest room to me and my husband/navigator extraordinaire. Their home is like a living museum of Southern architecture mixed with a an amazing collection of art and artifacts they gathered while living all around the world for three decades. You could not ask for more stimulating hosts or environment. We sat on wicker rocking chairs on the grand porch, sipping drinks and hearing about the history of the house, the town and Alex’s work with USAID – I felt like I was on the set of a movie.  So it was a very fun and productive day (ate BBQ, walked around the artsy town decorated with lots of Oil & Water posters!) before the real screening even started at the Madison-Morgan Cultural center that night. Rebecca Bonas arranged a fantastic screening for our Georgia premiere.  Gorgeous auditorium. Great audience. Lovely reception. So grateful!

Madison-Morgan Cultural Center

We could have spent many more days or a lifetime in Madison but we had to move on to our next destination, Hapeville GA.  I had another great high school visit organized by teacher Leslie Gordon at Hapeville Charter Career Academy. Students with interests in Latin America and filmmaking had already seen clips from the film so we engaged in a spirited discussion – I gotta tell you those kids kept me on my toes with fabulously thoughtful questions and deep curiosity about life in the Ecuadorian jungle. Looking forward to tonight's screening at the Christ Church & Carriage House in the center of Hapeville and meeting Mayor Alan Hallman and South Arts Senior Program Director irector Teresa Hollingsworth!