– Rob Nelson, Variety
“Chilling. I’d require every American to see it.”
– Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WITH CRISES EVERYWHERE, IS OIL IN SHORT SUPPLY OR
ARE PROFITS TO BE MADE?
GAS HOLE
In remembrance of Earth Day (April 22) and the One Year Anniversary of the Horizon Oil Spill
COMING TO DVD ON APRIL 19, 2011
LOS ANGELES (March 23 2011) – With the ongoing crises in the Middle East coupled with the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, oil prices are on the rise again after a short lull. Although this spike in oil pricing is being directly tied to the coalition-led attack on Libya, has the world’s oil supply been affected by either of these crises? Or, is it really a result of the machinations by the oil companies, who have a long history of profiting from crises economics? Gas Hole, a new documentary film by Scott D. Roberts and Jeremy Wagener takes on the oil industry and its manipulation of markets and technology, when it streets on DVD nationwide and in Canada on April 19, 2011 timed with the one year anniversary of Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon Deepwater Oil Spill, the worst environmental disaster in the U.S., which came to light on Earth Day in 2010.
Gas Hole, narrated by Peter Gallagher (Covert Affairs, Californication) and featuring Joshua Jackson (Fringe), played extensively on the festival circuit, charts the course of oil companies’ manipulations of the market since the days of John D. Rockefeller. Using clever graphics and a wealth of archival footage, the filmmakers show how the oil companies have repeatedly squelched any viable alternatives to petroleum by killing patents, buying out the competition, manipulating supply and reaping record profits following a natural disaster.
The film features footage from a congressional testimony by the presidents of the oil companies as well as candid interviews with Congressional leaders such as Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), Rep. Anna E. Eschoo (D- CA ), Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R –New York), Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R – MD) and Senator Mark Kirk (R – IL) as well as energy experts, ConsumerWatchdog.org’s Jamie Court and Doane College Professor Les Manns, with solutions presented by Alternative Fuel Producers, Alternative Fuel Consumers and more.
The film has already experienced backlash from the oil companies as well as an executive from General Motors Alternative Fuel Vehicles Division, says co-director Scott D. Roberts. “In 2008, a screening tour was planned with sponsorship from the Clean Cities of America program, a federally funded initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy. When Rich Gunther from GM’s Alternative Fuel Vehicles division saw the film at a private screening for Clean Cities reps, he threatened to cut GM’s funding for their programs if they supported the film. As a result, the tour with Clean Cities’ support was cancelled.” Why would GM’s Alternative Fuel Vehicles Division not want people to see a film that promotes the use of alternative fuel vehicles?
Synopsis:
Gas Hole, narrated by Peter Gallagher and featuring Joshua Jackson, is an eye-opening documentary about the history of oil prices and sheds light on a secret that the big oil companies don’t want you to know – that there are viable and affordable alternatives to petroleum fuel!
It also provides a detailed examination of our continued dependence on foreign oil and examines various potential solutions — starting with claims of buried technology that dramatically improves gas mileage, to navigating bureaucratic governmental roadblocks, to evaluating different alternative fuels that are technologically available now, to questioning the American Consumers’ reluctance to embrace alternatives.
Hear from a wide range of opinions from representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy Officials, Congressional leaders both Democrat and Republican, Alternative Fuel Producers, Alternative Fuel Consumers, Professors of Economics and Psychology and more.