The Filmmaker
Under Rich Earth was produced and directed by Toronto based filmmaker Malcolm Rogge
Under Rich Earth is a deeply personal film which melds my passions for politics, philosophy, ethics and cinema. When I began the project in June 2006, I was inspired by the idea that a film–like a book or a work of art–can be an important catalyst for debate around complex social issues.
This is a serious film about a complex problem, but I have made every effort to reflect the nuanced, good-natured, and at times, playful character of my subjects. Under Rich Earth is dedicated to “Los Juninseños”–a term of endearment used to describe the many humble, witty and courageous people of the tiny village of Junin, Ecuador.
The story behind this film spans twelve years: I traveled to Ecuador for the first time in 1996 to work on my Master’s thesis project. My thesis supervisor, Dr. Liisa North—now a close friend and mentor—had introduced me to a group of extraordinary Ecuadorian women who had founded Acción Ecológica (Ecological Action). I worked with Acción Ecológica’s “Amazon Oil” team and helped to deliver workshops in the Ecuadorian Amazon on the social and environmental impact of oil development. For three months, we traveled into the Ecuadorian Amazon region on pick-up trucks, small planes, and canoes. Our job was to bring information to remote villages where people were eager to learn about the environmental impact of oil development and their legal rights. Our hosts were of very limited means—but we were always greeted with enthusiasm and generosity.
Environmental Monitoring Network 1998 (La Red Monitoreo), Lago Agrio, Ecuador. Angel Shingre (far right, standing), an outspoken critic of the environmental damage caused by oil development, was assassinated a year later in Coca. Photo: Malcolm Rogge
It was a life-changing experience, not only because of the amazing people we met in these villages, but also because of the profound natural beauty of the environment in which they lived. Their lives were about to be altered dramatically by powerful global forces and they were determined not to allow the oil companies ignore their concerns just because they were poor. The response to oil development was often ambivalent: some communities wanted to ensure that the economic benefits of oil drilling reached their villages (an unlikely prospect for the vast majority of people living in the oil region considering the contemporary political and economic reality of Ecuador); while others were completely opposed to drilling and mounted vigourous protests. Nothing was simple; nothing black and white. If I learned anything during that period it was to never underestimate the sophistication, resourcefulness and tenacity of the so-called ‘indigenous peasants’. I returned to Ecuador a year and a half later to work with Paulina Garzon at her nascent organization called “Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales” (Centre for Economic and Social Rights). We organized and delivered workshops in partnership with other organizations in the oil producing region. At the time, I documented my experiences using a 35mm stills camera and began to think that one day, I would like to make a film in Ecuador about social justice and transnational corporations.
Luis Yanza, winner of the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize leads a workshop in the community of Taisha, Ecuador in 1998. Photo: Malcolm Rogge
One of the Ecuadorians who inspired me the most was Luis Yanza, the Founder and Director of the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía (Amazon Defence Front). Luis recently won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize and was immediately subjected to personal attacks from Chevron Oil, his long-time adversary.
The opportunity to make this film came many years later—almost ten years after my first trip to Ecuador. Professor Liisa North returned from teaching in Ecuador and told me a gripping story about farmers in the remote Intag valley of Ecuador who had joined together to resist what they considered to be the ‘invasion’ of their land by Canadian prospectors. After two months of research, I traveled to the Intag valley to begin shooting. This would be the first of three separate journeys to Ecuador from Canada that spanned over a year and a half. As it turned out, a few of my Ecuadorian friends and colleagues from my earlier work in the oil region had become involved in the mining debate. They introduced me to key people, local leaders and farmers who eventually became the subjects of the documentary, now called Under Rich Earth.
- Malcolm Rogge
Some articles previously published by Malcolm Rogge related to the making of Under Rich Earth:
Malcolm J. Rogge, Towards Transnational Corporate Accountability in the Global Economy: Challenging the Doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens in In Re: Union Carbide, Alfaro, Sequihua, and Aguinda, 36 Tex. Int’l L.J. 299, 302 (2001)
Download PDF and also available online here.
Malcolm J. Rogge, Ecuador’s Oil Region: Developing Community Legal Resources in a National Security Zone, Third World Legal Studies, 1996-1997, Valparaiso University School of Law.
Rogge, Malcolm, How to Make Them Hear: Challenging International Oil Interests in Ecuador’s Amazon Region, Refuge: Canada’s periodical on refugees, Vol 16, No 3 (1997)
Malcolm James Rogge, Human Rights, Human Development and The Right to a Healthy Environment: An Analytical Framework, Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Volume XXII, No. 1, 2001
Download PDF (available soon) or contact the Canadian Journal of Development Studies
