H2Oil in Top 10 Independent Docs of 2009
By Melora Koepke, December 17th, 2009. The Hour
Canada’s Shame: H2Oil
by Magnus Isacsson, December 2009. Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints
A toxic Addiction
by James Gartier, December 8, 2009. Rover: Montreal Arts Uncovered
H2Oi: attention, sables mouvants!
par Mario Cloutier, 5 decembre 2009, La Presse
4 Star Review: H2Oil - Montreal Walsh targets oil sands in first feature film
by John Griffin, December 5th, 2009. The Gazette
H2Oil: Canoe 3.5 star review
par Martin Morin. Canoe.ca divertissement
H2Oil: Leau, c’est la vie
par Mario Cloutier. 3 decembre, 2009 Cyber Press
Media: Montreal Documentary H2oil x Alberta’s Dirty Oil
by Naked Eye. December 2, 2009
Fuel for Thought:
With H2Oil, Montreal filmmaker Shannon Walsh explores the Alberta oil sands’ threat to the environment
by Matthew Hays. December 3, 2009. The Mirror
H2Oil: Menaçants sables bitumineux
par Geneviève Vézina-Montplaisi, 4 décember 2009. Métro Montréal
H2Oil - Saisir l’ampleur du désastre dans notre «propre» pays
par Mélanie Thibault, 3 décember 2009. La Grande Époque
Le prix de l’or noir
par Alexandre Belkowski, 2 décember 2009. Quartier Libre
Radio-Canada: Un Documentaire activiste
par Richard Raymond, 3 décember 2009. Radio Canada
Movie Review: Documentary Indicts the oilsands
H2Oil shows Alberta resource in a dirty light
by Jay Stone, November 26, 2009. The Ottawa Citizen
One Slick Mess: An interview with H2Oil’s Shannon Walsh
by Ezra Winton, November 23, 2009. Art Threat
H2Oil
by Carey, November 2009. Orcasound
H2Oil ou le pouding à l’arsenic
par Noémi Desmarais, 17 novembre 2009. Greenpeace Canada
H2Oil — L’exploitation des sables bitumineux: à quel prix?
par Martin Bisaillon, 18 novembre 2009. Rue Frontenac
H2Oil: Dirty oil, sold dirt cheap
by Melora Koepke, cover photo by Jocelyn Michel, November 19th, 2009. The Hour
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal: mini-Reviews
by Bernard Perusse, Mark Tremblay, Jeff Heinrich, November 6 2009. The Gazette.
Burnt Out: Documentary gets the dirt on tar sands, premieres at Concordia this week
by Christopher Olson, November 10, 2009. The Link: Concordia’s independent newspaper
‘H2Oil’ Tears up the Tar Sands:
Documentary focusing on Fort Chipewyan becomes a powerful tool for climate change activists
By Dawn Paley, Oct 09, 2009
H2Oil: The Movie Shell Doesn’t Want You to See
by Scott Badenoch, Ecomatters
Oil, water mixed
by Kevin Williamson, Calgary Sun, October 11, 2009
Controversy sticks to province’s oilsands: New documentary a character-driven look at industry
By Jesse Ferreras, Canwest News Service, October 8, 2009
The party will go on for Big Oil
By Adrienne Beattie in Going Green, FFWD weekly
H2OIL documentary creators seeks to slow down oil sands development
By Aaron Burnett | 660 News, Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Tar sands also B.C. issue in H2Oil
By Matthew Burrows, The Georgia Straight, October 8, 2009
Oil and water: Tarsands doc H2Oil a valuable refresher
By Peter Hemminger in Film Reviews, FFWD weekly, October 8, 2009
CIFF Day Three: “America’s like a fat lady” and other gems
By Jessica deMello, National Post, September 27, 2009,
Docs target oil sands and the damage done
By Jesse Ferreras, North Shore News
Hot Docs: H2Oil
by: Max Ritts, Spacing Toronto, May 8, 2009
It’s safe to say that the Alberta Oil Sands have achieved a singular level of regard in the national imagination. Images of them proliferate the media. Usually beautifully detailed and taken from great heights, they conjure up anxieties running deep in our culture – of thirst and demolition and bewildered entitlement. They are the largest and perhaps most important industrial energy project in the world. And I wonder, after seeing the provocative and powerful documentary H2Oil, if the Oil Sands aren’t simply an icon for our times, but if they are perhaps some great metonymy for them as well. Cruising across their unreal expanse at the beginning of the film, we acquire the sense that what’s visible of the Sands can only ever stand for something larger. The Oil Sands are a flash-point for volatile inter-provincial debate, a bulging knot in the North American petroleum market, the fuel for our cities, and an environmental wager of global proportions.
LINK TO ARTICLE
Hot Docs 2009 Preview
by: Tim, BlogTO, Apr. 29 2009
H2Oil picked as BlogTO’s top Hot Doc Picks!
Gripping eco-flicks top 2009’s Hot Docs lineup
by: Constance Droganes, CTV, Apr. 28 2009
Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands drive “H2Oil,” Shannon Walsh’s eye-popping exploration into their impact on local water ecology and peoples’ health.
“Anyone who starts to pull back the curtain, not just on the tar sands but on any environmental issue today, will find lots to be disturbed about,” Walsh told CTV.ca during a phone call from Montreal.
Before Greenpeace came to the tar sands Walsh was diving into the great divide between environmentalists, oil corporations and government. Their beef? How do you serve the economy and save the planet at the same time?
“You can ask what’s more important: Oil or water? But there’s a bigger question here and it concerns our ability to live on the planet,” says Walsh. “These are life and death questions for all of us.”
Hot Docs film fest boasts strongest lineup ever after record submissions
by: CBC, March 24, 2009
Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival programmers had a record number of submissions for this year’s lineup, leading organizers to tout the 2009 program as the strongest in the event’s 16-year history.
Organizers revealed details for the upcoming festival at a packed downtown Toronto club Tuesday morning, with 171 films to unspool across 10 screening programs. The selections span a range of topics from macro issues like international environmental conflicts (Waterlife, The Cove, H2Oil) to a fascinating stories about individuals, such as an Indian boy facing life with a facial deformity (Ganesh: Boy Wonder).
H2Oil ou l’insatiable soif du pétrole albertain
écrit par: Jessica Nadeau , Rue Frontenac, April 17, 2009
L’exploitation des sables bitumineux est-elle en train d’assécher les nappes phréatiques et d’empoisonner les communautés vivant en aval de Fort McMurray? C’est la question que se pose la documentariste montréalaise Shannon Walsh avec son nouveau film H2Oil, qui sera présenté en première au festival des Hot Docs de Toronto en mai.
Tout a débuté il y a quelques années lorsque des amis de Shannon Walsh, qui embouteillent de l’eau de source dans la forêt boréale en Alberta près des zones d’exploitation pétrolière, ont sonné l’alarme. «Ils m’ont appelée pour me dire de venir voir ce qui se passait chez eux, il n’y avait pratiquement plus d’eau et ils avaient peur que leur eau soit contaminée. Pour moi, ça a levé le rideau sur le sujet des sables bitumineux et plus je creusais, plus j’avais de questions.»
Très rapidement, la documentariste s’est retrouvée chez les autochtones de la communauté de Fort Chipewyan en aval des exploitations pétrolières sur l’Athabasca. L’endroit même où on a retrouvé un poisson à deux têtes récemment. Et où, bien sûr, les autochtones qui préconisent un mode de vie traditionnel continuent de pêcher.
Doc digs into oil sands
by: Patricia Bailey, Playback Oct 29, 2008
The producers of an upcoming doc on the Alberta oil sands, H2Oil, hope to get audiences talking about one of the world’s largest industrial projects and its potentially devastating environmental impact.
“I can’t believe that the oil sands wasn’t a major issue in the federal election,” said writer/director Shannon Walsh, during a break in editing the doc, which will air on Global and Télé-Québec, likely some time next winter. “We are mortgaging our environmental future with this project and the government isn’t doing anything,” says Walsh, who began the doc in 2006 shortly after receiving a call from friends who have a spring water bottling company near the oil sands.
“They were worried because their water levels were down,” recalls Walsh. “They were sure it had something to do with the oil sands.” Two barrels of water are required to extract one barrel of oil; much of which comes from the nearby Athabasca river. Walsh says she quickly became determined to “unravel what’s going on in the oil sands.”
It’s estimated that major oil companies such as Shell, Chevron, Exxon, Total, Occidental and Imperial have invested nearly $100 billion in Alberta’s 3,000-square-kilometer “bitumen belt.” The controversial project has transformed the once-pristine wilderness around Fort McMurray and the Athabasca River into a landscape of enormous black mines — so large they can now be seen from space — and toxic waste ponds. The Canadian Energy Research Institute has suggested that between 2000 and 2020 the oil sands could contribute some $51 billion to the federal government, $41 billion to the Alberta government and $11 billion to other provinces.
Produced by Sergeo Kirby and Sarah Spring of Loaded Pictures, one of H2Oil’s principal subjects is Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam, who wants the government to stop companies from extracting oil from the sands until thorough environmental impact studies have been conducted. Adam, who has threatened court action if the oil sands projects proceed, believes leakage is polluting the Athabasca. Spring is thrilled that Global is broadcasting the point-of-view documentary, which was funded by the network, SODEC, the Canada Council, the CTF and Télé-Québec. “It’s wonderful they picked it up. We want to reach as wide an audience as possible.”
Loaded Pictures fait sa niche au Québec
30/10/08
Alors que 2008 fut l’année de EyeSteelFilm – surtout grâce à «Up The Yangtze» de Yung Chang, un des documentaires les plus lucratifs de l’histoire canadienne – 2009 pourrait être favorable à une autre boîte de production anglo-québécoise, Loaded Pictures.
Situés sur la rue Saint-Viateur à Montréal, les bureaux de la jeune compagnie bourdonnent depuis les derniers mois avec les détails finaux apportés à «Roadsworth : Franchir la ligne» de Alan Kohl, cofondateur de la boîte avec le producteur Sergeo Kirby. Le film, qui fut coproduit avec l’ONF, sera présenté en grande première aux RIDM le mois prochain.
L’autre grand chantier de Loaded Pictures est le documentaire «H2Oil», un film destiné à Global Television et Télé-Québec traitant de l’exploitation et l’impact environnemental des sables bitumineux en Alberta et dans l’Ouest canadien. Le film réalisé par Shannon Walsh est produit par Sergeo Kirby et Sarah Spring.
L’équipe comprend le directeur photo Alan Kohl, les monteurs Sophie Leblond et Étienne Gagnon, ainsi que les compositeurs Rebecca Foon et Ian Havsky. Des animations de James Brathwaite, Dale Hayward et Sylvie Trouvé ponctuent également le film financé par le Conseil des Arts du Canada, CanWest, le FCT, la Sodec et le Crédit d’impôts du gouvernement du Québec.
La filmographie de Loaded Pictures comprend aussi le court métrage de fiction «Transfert» de Guillaume Paquin-Boutin, présenté au dernier FNC, et le documentaire «Wal-Town» de Sergeo Kirby. La boîte complète également le film «Vanishing Currents» de Sebastian Lange, coproduit par Lange et Gabrielle Cran.
