The Oil Crash (2 DVD´s)

Format: PAL, Stereo, 2-DVD-Set
Duration: 83 Minuten
Bonus-DVD: 94 Minuten Bonus-Material (englisch)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Language: German and Englisch
Subtitles: German and French
Director: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack
Co-Director: Reto Caduff
Photography: Frank Messmer, Daniel Pfisterer, Jim Bowen, Tim Kos, Richard Grell, David Merkofer
Sound: Robert Porter, Heinz Kurz
Editor: Georgia Wyss
Production: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack, Lava Productions AG
Year of Production: 2009

OilCrash, produced and directed by award-winning European journalists and filmmakers Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, tells the story of how our civilization’s addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world’s top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion – our industrial society, built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely re-imagined and overhauled.

The idea that the world’s oil supplies have peaked, or will soon, is gaining mainstream currency.  Robert B. Semple, Jr., associate editor of the New York Times editorial board, writes in the paper’s March 1, 2006, online edition:

“The Age of Oil — 100-plus years of astonishing economic growth made possible by cheap, abundant oil — could be ending without our really being aware of it. Oil is a finite commodity. At some point even the vast reservoirs of Saudi Arabia will run dry. But before that happens there will come a day when oil production ‘peaks,’ when demand overtakes supply (and never looks back), resulting in large and possibly catastrophic price increases that could make today's $60-a-barrel oil look like chump change. Unless, of course, we begin to develop substitutes for oil. Or begin to live more abstemiously. Or both. The concept of peak oil has not been widely written about. But people are talking about it now. It deserves a careful look — largely because it is almost certainly correct.”

Semple concludes: “These [are] not doomsday scenarios from conspiracy theorists, but hard scientific facts backed by serious research.”

You needn’t be a conspiracy theorist to see a connection between America’s current obsessions with the Middle East and national security, and the world’s looming oil crisis.  The frenzied search for alternative sources of energy now being pursued by the largest multinational energy corporations makes it clear they also believe a crisis is fast approaching. Each day’s headlines, whether the subject is Iraq or South America, sheds new light on the issue.

Producer Basil Gelpke explains: “Suddenly, seemingly unconnected news about Katrina and Rita hitting the Gulf Coast’s oil refineries; the ongoing war in Iraq; the nuclear ambitions of Iran; the populist politics of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela; the appalling corruption in most oil producing countries; the de facto nationalization of Yukos in Russia; the steep rise in costs of everything oil-related; and even increasing share prices of companies involved in solar, wind and nuclear energy all pointed in the same direction.  Oil is running out, and nobody is ready for the cataclysm that is bound to follow.”

The film includes in-depth, thought-provoking interviews with Colin Campbell, Matt Simmons, Roscoe Bartlett, David Goodstein, Matt Savinar, Terry Lynn Karl, Fadhil Chalabi, Robert Ebel and many others.  Shot on location at oil fields in Azerbaijan, Venezuela, the Middle East and Texas, with original music by Daniel Schnyder and Philip Glass, the film provides not only questions, but possible solutions to the most perplexing and important economic, environmental and public policy issue of our time.

One year ago, in a report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, Robert L. Hirsch challenged the notion that the free market can solve the onrushing emergency:

"The world has never faced a problem like Peak Oil. Without massive mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and will not be temporary. Previous energy transitions (wood to coal and coal to oil) were gradual and evolutionary; oil peaking will be abrupt and revolutionary."

FESTIVAL HISTORY
Taiwan - Oil Film Festival, June 2008
Fica in Brazil - 10th Fica Team, June 2008
Green Film Festival, Seoul, Korea
Basque Environmental Film Festival (touring) - 24-31 May, 2008
Ecoknights, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Oktober 2008
Ecocinema, Greece - 7th International Film Festival - 21-27 February 2008
Solothurn - Swiss Film Festival - official selection
Boulder - Colorado Premiere – In Competition
Tiburon - Northern California Premiere – official selection
BFI / Sheffield Docfest - Touring festival – official selection
Riverside, CA - In Competition
EURODOK - Oslo Premiere - official selection
DC Environmental FF - Washington DC Premiere - official selection
Philadelphia - Philadelphia Premiere - official selection
Buenos Aires - Argentinian Premiere – official selection
Palm Beach - Florida Premiere – Winner, Best Doc Feature
EcoFestival, Tel Aviv - Israeli Premiere - official selection
Mountain FF, Telluride - Telluride Premiere – Winner, Wake Up Call Award
FICMA Environmental FF - Catalan Premiere – Winner, Golden Sun, Best Film
DocVille FF, Leuven - Belgian Premiere – Jury Special Mention
Ecofilms, Rhodes - Greek Premiere – In Competition
Cambridge Film Festival - Cambridgeshire Premiere – Official Selection
Anonimul IFF - Romanian Premiere – Official Selection
Woods Hole FF - Massachusetts Premiere – In Competition
Cinemambiente FF - Italian Premiere – In Competition
Ekofilm 2007 - Czech Premiere – In Competition
Helsinki International Film Festival 2007 - Finnish Premiere – official selection
Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, China 2007
Leiden Film Festival 2007 - Dutch premiere – official selection
SXSW - World Premiere – In Competition
HotDocs, Toronto - Canadian Premiere - In Competition
Newport - New England Premiere – official selection
Maui - Hawaii Premiere – official selection
Galway - European Premiere - Winner, Audience Award
Auckland - New Zealand Premiere – official selection
Wellington - South Island Premiere – official selection
NZ Travelling Festival - Official Selection
Melbourne - Australian Premiere – Top Ten Audience Poll
Tahoe/Reno - Nevada Premiere – Winner, “Best of the Fest”
Edinburgh - U.K. Premiere - In Competition
Zurich - Swiss Premiere – official selection
Vancouver - British Columbia Premiere - In Competition
Woodstock - NY State Premiere - official selection
Warsaw - Polish Premiere - In Competition
Bergen - Norwegian Premiere – Winner, Youth Doc Award
Milwaukee - Wisconsin Premiere - In Competition
Sheffield Docfest - English Premiere – official selection
Seville - Spanish Premiere – In Competition
Los Angeles AFI Fest - West Coast Premiere – official selection
Leeds - West Yorkshire Premiere – official selection
Copenhagen (cph-dox) - Danish Premiere – official selection
Cardiff - Welsh Premiere – official selection

Resfest - London Premiere – official selection
Anchorage - Alaska Premiere - official selection
Santa Fe - New Mexico Premiere - official selection
Winner, Zurich Film Prize 2006 – Best Documentary

Directors: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack
Co-Director: Reto Caduff
Written by: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack
Producers: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack
Associate Producer: Linda Litowsky
Editor: Georgia Wyss
Assistant Editor: Florian Nussbaumer
Online Editor: Esther Winter,
Michael Hertig
DOP: Frank Messmer
DOP USA: Daniel Pfisterer
Camera: Jim Bowen, Tim Kos, Richard Grell, David Merkofer
Sound: Robert Porter, Heinz Kurz
Research: Fuad Akhundov, Reto Caduff, Basil Gelpke, Patrick Held, Rolando Loewenstein, Linda Litowsky, Steve Mencher, Florian Nussbaumer, Jeevan Sellappah
Production Assistant: Florian Nussbaumer, Gabriela Padron
Archive Research: Ulrich Tilgner, Steve Mencher, Linda Litowsky, Basil Gelpke, Daniel Richtman, Dave Room
Composition, Soprano Sax, Tenor Sax, Flute: Daniel Schnyder
Additional Composition: Philip Glass, Stefan Faesch, Philippe Kuhn, Georg Friedrich Händel, Camille Saint-Saens
Percussion: Robert Mark
Vibes, Marimba: Thomas Dobler
Violin: Jonathan Allen, Juliana Georgieva
Viola: Rumjana Naydenova
Cello: Daniel Pezzotti
Bass: Dariusz Mizera
Sound Engineer: Urs Wiesendanger
Sound Mix: Daniel Faesch
Art Direction, Graphics: Melinda Gelpke

Source of texts and pictures: Telepool GmbH, with friendly permission by Ingrid Kobler-Zieglmeier, Telepool