Black Gold on the Big Screen - Movie
Black Gold on the Big Screen
Vol. 9 Issue 10 - December 2005
What a difference a year can make. In the oil and gas industry, one short year can bring boom or bust to a company and documentary film company Pay Dirt Pictures has experienced the uncertainty first-hand. Until the last few months, the firm's latest celluloid offering, Pay Dirt: The Alberta Oil Sands, met with little enthusiasm from distributors. Now the Calgary-based production company is in talks with the Discovery Channel and PBS in the U.S. and has taken its two-part series on a seven-week North American tour.
"We're planning on starting out in Calgary and then heading east, including Toronto, Montreal, Boston and London (England)," director Matt Palmer says about the journey that will culminate in a private screening for United States senators and congressmen at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Raising interest for the pro-ject was not easy, though. After completing the documentary this year, Palmer and his co-producers, Margot and Carolyn McMaster, approached CTV about airing it. "Too regional," was the response, which may be seen now as a missed opportunity, seeing as the U.S. news show 60 Minutes just finished filming a show in Fort McMurray. But, after a stellar reception at the Calgary International Film Festival this fall, the interest started to gush. And, Palmer says, the timing couldn't be better.
"Our goal was always to get this (film) into the educational system, and we can now go into the early phases of that," he says. "Our priority is the educational component at many levels, from university down to junior high.
"Canada is emerging as an energy superpower and Can-adians need to be aware of the challenges and benefits."
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