Film: The Oil Machine
The Oil Machine is a new documentary from director Emma Davie that shows us the true price of our dependence on oil and asks if activists and investors can bring about a global shift to non fossil fuel energy
Emma Davie's The Oil Machine, produced by Sonja Henrici, will be in UK cinemas from 4 November 2022, just ahead of this year’s COP 27 (it starts on 6 November in Sharm el-Sheikh). The film explores our economic, historical and emotional entanglement with oil by looking at the conflicting imperatives around North Sea oil. But this invisible machine at the core of our society could be about the break down as activists and investors demand change. So is this the end of oil?
The Oil Machine reveals the hidden infrastructure of oil from the offshore rigs and the buried pipelines to its flow through the stock markets of London. As the North Sea industry struggles to meet the need to cut carbon emissions, oil workers see their livelihoods under threat, and investors seek to protect their assets. Meanwhile a younger generation of climate activists are catalysed by the signs of impending chaos, and the very real threat of global sea level rises. The documentary explores the complexities for our society of transitioning away from oil and gas as a society – but asks if we're we getting ever more embedded in it?
Climate scientists say we have five to10 years to control our oil addiction, and yet the licensing of new oil fields continues in direct contradiction with the Paris Climate Agreement. By highlighting the complexities of how oil runs through every aspect of our society - from high finance to cheap consumer goods – The Oil Machine brings together a wide range of voices from oil company executives, economists, young activists, pension fund managers and considers how this machine can be tamed, dismantled, or repurposed.
This documentary looks at how the drama of global climate action is playing out in the fight over North Sea oil
The film is launching an impact campaign to engage discussion and create a call to action, starting with its signup page here: https://www.theoilmachine.org/after
We live in an oil machine and we are running out of time. This film shows how much we depend on oil and gas, and why that needs to change.
A Sonja Henrici Creates Production for BBC Scotland and supported by The National Lottery through Screen Scotland.
