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Interview: Director Marcello Brecciaroli of "Italian Offshore" on Exposing the Reality Behind Offshore Oil Drilling in Italy



A 12 miglia a largo Termoli sorge la piattaforma Rospo Mare, gestita da Edison, produce petrolio ed è collegata alla nave cisterna Alba Marina























(Intervista anche in italiano)

Here’s a statistic you may not have heard: Italy is the third largest producer of oil and the fifth largest of gas in Western Europe. In my series “Basilicata: Terra di Cinema”, I have written about the extraction of petroleum in the region, the dangers to the land and people, the effect on agriculture and the creative ways in which the filmmakers of the region are expressing their discontentment. Now, a new documentary film about offshore oil drilling in the Mediterranean Sea is gaining momentum right in time for an important vote. Filmmakers Marcello Brecciaroli, Salvatore Altiero and Manuele Bonaccorsi dedicated a year of their lives to make Italian Offshore to inform the citizens of their country about the truths of this drilling and the grave effects it is having on the land and sea of Italy. I spoke with the director Marcello Brecciaroli. He took the time to explain the whole situation to me and why he and his colleagues felt the need to make this film. Our interview was done in Italian, so both versions are included. 

Morena – Con le sue colonne di acciaio alte quasi 100 metri il jack-up
Tell me about the subject of your film.
Italian Offshore is an investigative documentary about the world of offshore drilling in Italy. We went to study all the major production sites in Italy to understand how the system works, whether the procedures are appropriate and how much is earned in this area. We soon realized that each site represented specific problems and so we decided to talk about the biggest platform, the oldest, the biggest polluter, the one closest to the coast and the most "mysterious." The documentary is therefore composed of a first part that describes the site and a second part that sheds light on the financial side with the companies behind the world of drilling. We found they are not just the big names that we all know. There is indeed a world of small companies that are born and die quickly. They remain within the financial market, and often lead to tax havens and unclear ownership. 

Santo Stefano a Mare, si trova ad appena 3 km dalla costa di Ortona
Raccontami “Italian Offshore”.
Italian Offshore è un documentario di inchiesta sul mondo delle trivellazioni offshore in Italia. Siamo andati a studiare tutti i più importanti siti di produzione d'Italia per capire come funziona il sistema di controlli, se le procedure sono adeguate e quanto e come si guadagna in questo settore.

Ci siamo presto resi conto che ogni sito rappresentava specifiche problematiche e così abbiamo deciso di raccontare quelli più esemplificativi: La piattaforma più grande, quella più antica, quella più inquinante, quella più vicina alla costa e quella più “misteriosa”.

Il documentario è quindi composto da una prima parte dallo stile più reportagistico che descrive questi siti e da una parte più finanziaria che vuole far luce sulle società che stanno dietro al mondo delle trivellazioni e che non sono solo le grandi che tutti conosciamo. C'è infatti un mondo di piccole società che nascono e muoiono velocemente, che vivono nel mercato finanziario e spesso portano a paradisi fiscali e a proprietà poco chiare. 

I have written often about the petroleum extraction in Basilicata, and how filmmakers are reacting to it through their art. Is the drilling in your film in any way connected to what’s happening in Basilicata?
In Italy we have a region, Basilicata, where we’ve been extracting a lot of oil for many years. It’s one of the most important sites in Europe for this sector and many inquiries have been made on the environmental havoc that this region has suffered. The goal we made for our film is bringing the viewer into the “metal city” that lives on the sea beyond the horizon, which people cannot see with their own eyes. Often companies operating at sea also have sites on the ground. They are two worlds linked financially. However, with regard to environmental issues, they pose very different problems. 

Image from identitainsorgenti.com 
We started to deal with this issue in June. At that time, a case was much debated and was causing great mobilization: the Ombrina oilfield off the coast of Abruzzo. Soon we realized that Ombrina had all that visibility because people can actually see it from the coast (besides the fact that it is a truly an absurd project). So we wondered how many Ombrina’s really exist in our seas. From the standpoint of directing, the theme fascinated me because it posed technical challenges. Shooting at sea is complicated. We are always on small fast boats and at the mercy of the weather. In addition, shooting the sea from decks is forbidden for security reasons, so you cannot do it officially. Therefore, we had to find unorthodox methods of getting there. Sometimes it was really assault journalism, "Pirate Journalism" I would say. With this project, we won the DIG Award, the most important Italian journalism festival in the category "Focus on Italy". This gave us important funding in order to remain independent and to take the time to dig deep into such a complex world. 

Le Garibaldi, gestite da Eni, a 22km dalle coste romagnole
Ho scritto spesso della trivellazione petrolifera in Basilicata, e in che modo i registi stanno reagendo con la loro arte. Come è questa trivellazione petrolifera diverso da quella che sta accadendo in Basilicata?
In Italia abbiamo una regione, la Basilicata, dove si estrae molto petrolio da tanti anni. E' uno dei siti più importanti d'Europa per questo settore e molte inchieste sono state fatte sullo scempio ambientale che questa regione ha dovuto subire. Noi ci siamo posti l'obbiettivo di portare lo spettatore nella città di metallo che vive sul mare oltre l'orizzonte, laddove il controllo visivo dei cittadini non può arrivare da solo. Spesso le aziende che operano in mare hanno anche concessioni a terra. Sono due mondi legati dal punto di vista finanziario ma per quanto riguarda le problematiche ambientali, pongono problemi molto diversi.

Abbiamo iniziato a occuparci di questa questione lo scorso giugno. In quel periodo un caso era molto dibattuto e stava causando grande mobilitazione: il giacimento Ombrina a largo della costa dell'Abruzzo. Presto ci siamo resi conto che Ombrina aveva tutta quella visibilità perché il pozzo si vede dalla costa (oltre al fatto che è un progetto davvero assurdo). Ci siamo quindi chiesti quante “Ombrine” esistessero davvero nei nostri mari. Dal punto di vista registico il tema mi ha molto affascinato perché poneva sfide tecniche non indifferenti: girare in mare è complicato. Siamo sempre a bordo di piccole barche veloci e in balia del meteo. Inoltre il mare intorno alle piattaforme è interdetto per motivi di sicurezza, non ci si può arrivare ufficialmente. Abbiamo quindi dovuto trovare metodi anche poco ortodossi di arrivarci. A volte è stato davvero giornalismo d'assalto, “giornalismo pirata” direi. Con questo progetto abbiamo vinto il DIG Award, il più importante festival giornalistico italiano, nella categoria "Focus on Italy". Questo ci ha dato un importante finanziamento per poter rimanere indipendenti e prenderci il tempo necessario per scavare a fondo in un mondo così complesso. 

Angelina – Marina di Ravenna, a 2 km dalla costa
Why did you make this film? Why did you want to tell this story?
This story took my whole life and that of my colleagues in the last year. We feel the need to tell it because in Italy, an important vote (the April 17 referendum) is coming up and we wanted to give the citizens an alternative tool for understanding in addition to the official information (provided by the government). Italy is at the center of the Mediterranean, with more coastline than any other European country. We think it is a privileged place to analyze the problem and we hope that what we have to say will also be of interest to other countries bordering this sea. The Mediterranean is a small, enclosed sea. We are all equally affected by what happens here. The limits of territorial waters are just lines on a map. 

Perché avete fatto questo film? Perché avete voluto raccontare questa storia?
Questa storia ha preso tutta la mia vita e quella dei miei colleghi nell'ultimo anno. Sentiamo la necessità di raccontarla anche perché in Italia ci saranno delle votazioni in merito a breve e volevamo dare uno strumento di comprensione ai cittadini alternativo alle versioni ufficiali. L'Italia è al centro del Mediterraneo, ha più costa di qualsiasi altro paese europeo. Pensiamo che sia un posto privilegiato per analizzare il problema e speriamo che quello che abbiamo da dire possa interessare anche agli altri paesi che si affacciano a questo mare. Il mediterraneo è un mare piccolo e chiuso, siamo tutti ugualmente coinvolti da quello che vi succede, i limiti delle acque territoriali sono solo linee su una mappa, al mare non interessano.

La più grande piattaforma Italiana si chiama Vega, si trova a 22 km dalla costa di Pozzallo (Ragusa)

Tell me about this referendum coming up on April 17 and how the results could affect the current status of drilling.
The referendum of April 17 will be a vote in which citizens will be able to tell whether or not they want to go ahead with drilling at sea. Unfortunately, the government is doing everything not to inform the citizens and many don’t even know about the vote. In Italy, if there isn’t at least 50% voter turnout, the referendum is canceled. Furthermore, the government has found a way to make this referendum less effective by taking out the most important part that could have halted the drilling for many years. Even so, it’s an important time politically because the referendum still has a strong moral value even if legally, it will have little effect. 

Raccontami questo referendum del 17 aprile.
Il referendum del 17 aprile sarà una votazione in cui i cittadini potranno dire se vogliono o no che si vada avanti con le trivellazioni in mare. Purtroppo il governo sta facendo di tutto per non informare i cittadini e molti neanche sanno che ci sarà questa votazione. In Italia se a un referendum non vota più del 50% degli aventi diritto il referendum viene annullato. Il governo ha trovato il modo di svuotare di senso questo referendum eliminando la parte più importante che avrebbe davvero bloccato le trivelle per molti anni. Ma anche così è un momento importante politicamente perché ha comunque una forte valenza morale anche se legalmente inciderà poco. 

Deep Water Horizon disaster (Image from gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov)

In making this film, what have you found are the most serious dangers to Italians and the environment in general caused by the drilling?
The greatest damage is to the fishermen. In some areas of the Adriatic Sea, there are so many platforms that fishermen no longer know where to go with their boats. When talking about Offshore you always think about the risk for disaster, such as in the Gulf of Mexico with Deep Water Horizon, but few know about the pollution caused by these platforms just in normal operation. They are industrial plants in the sea and they have an impact. In addition, the Italian government, to attract oil companies, has fees among the lowest in Europe. This means that the huge risk is not offset by gains. The Adriatic Sea is a closed sea, this means that the sea, in the event of an accident, would have huge repercussions. In our journey, we also saw other serious problems such as subsidence: the sinking of the earth as a result of the extraction of gas. There are areas, such as the area of ​​Ravenna in Emilia Romagna, where hundreds of meters of beaches have disappeared in twenty years because the land has sunk more than a meter. 

Deep Water Horizon disaster (Image from NPR)
Nel percorso di questo film, quali gravi pericoli avete trovato per gli italiani e per l’ambiente generale causate dalle trivellazioni?
Il danno più grave lo pagano i pescatori. In alcune zone del mare adriatico ci sono talmente tante piattaforme che i pescatori non sanno più dove passare con le loro barche. Quando si parla di Offshore si pensa sempre al rischio disastro, come nel golfo del Messico con la Deep Water Orizon, ma pochi sanno che le piattaforme inquinano anche nella normale operatività. Sono impianti industriali in mezzo al mare e hanno un impatto. Inoltre lo stato italiano, per attirare le compagnie petrolifere, ha le tasse tra le più basse d'Europa. Questo vuol dire che il rischio enorme non è bilanciato dai guadagni. Il mare adriatico é un mare chiuso, questo vuol dire che il mare, in caso di incidente, ci metterebbe tantissimo a riprendersi. Nel nostro viaggio abbiamo visto anche altri gravi problemi come la subsidenza: lo sprofondare della terra a seguito del l'estrazione di gas. Ci sono aree, come la zona di Ravenna in Emilia Romagna, dove spiagge larghe centinaia di metri sono sparite in venti anni perché la terra è sprofondata di più di un metro. 

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