Francine Strickwerda will be on Kettering’s campus to participate in a discussion about her film “Oil and Water” which will air on Friday, January 30th at the McKinnon Theater on Kettering’s campus as part of the 13th Annual Global Issues Film Festival. Follow updates from the film festival by using the hashtag #KetteringGIFF.

Francine Strickwerda is an award-winning director, writer and producer of independent documentary films for PBS and Showtime, and owner of Flock This Way Films. Along with Laura Spellman, Strickwerda co-produced, directed and wrote the feature film Oil & Water for PBS, An expert film fundraiser and grant writer, her films have been funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Independent Television Service (ITVS), Chicken & Egg Pictures, the city of Seattle and many others. Also, she is a documentary film coach and grant writer for hire, and she helps other filmmakers find success on their creative paths.

Additionally, Strickwerda runs Hullabaloo.tv, a Seattle production company that creates high-end corporate and commercial work with her husband Tracy Dethlefs, creative director and editor. She has created videos for clients including the United Nations, Fortune 500 companies and the Seattle Fire Department. Francine began her storytelling career as a newspaper reporter and she has a degree in journalism from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.

Below is a Q&A with Strickwerda about her 2014 film “Oil and Water” - a story of two boys coming of age in the middle of one of the world's worst toxic disasters: the contamination of Ecuador's Amazon region by reckless oil drilling. Hugo comes to America to fight for the survival of his Amazonian tribe, while David goes to Ecuador to launch the world's first company to certify oil as 'fair trade.' Their journeys lead them to explore what could be a more just future for people around the world born with oil beneath their feet. Eight years in the making, 'Oil & Water' is a shocking and inspiring David and Goliath story.

Kettering University: What inspired you to tell the story of the Cofan tribe in Ecuador?

Francine Strickwerda: We first learned out about the situation in Ecuador when we found an article in the Seattle Times about Hugo Lucitante, a Cofan, who was graduating from a local high school. We felt that it was important to tell a character-driven story, and we were pretty thrilled to find one - and then later two - such amazing people who could lead us on a journey. We wanted to tell the story of this environmental disaster, but here was our chance to also make it a buddy movie, which we knew would be so much more compelling. Hugo and David are such extraordinary people; they were fascinating when we met them as they were both graduating from high school. But as we followed them over the next 8 years, we were blown away by who they became. Each man is trying to change the world for the better, and in his own way. For Hugo, the stakes are so high. There's oil under his village and oil companies are marching down the river toward the Cofan people. Their world as they know it, perhaps even the existence of the tribe, is on the brink of disappearing forever unless something changes. The rainforest is at stake.

David is an exceptionally gifted guy, and he's using his gifts to try to revolutionize the oil industry. How cool is that? There was also just a lot of serendipity. We brought Hugo and David together to meet for the first time, but then we discovered that they already knew each other. David had worked on the case against Texaco (which was absorbed by Chevron), as a 14-year-old kid intern in Amherst, Mass. How unlikely is that? And it wasn't just a paper-pushing internship, he made a significant contribution. And then there were other more obvious parallels to their stories. Both boys had a foot in the other's world, they were both fish out of water, both figuring out how to adapt and thrive.

K: What impact did juxtaposing David and Hugo's stories have on your creative process?

FR: David and Hugo had such complimentary stories. Going back and forth between the two characters and seeing them travel together allowed us to tell a richer story. We were able to go much deeper than if we had only followed one of them. It was also very challenging creatively to stay on point, it’s a complex story, and we had so much material, about 200 hours of footage as our source material.

K: How do you believe filming over the course of several years impacted the film? What were the challenges you encountered while filming?

FR: Funding was the main reason it took so long to finish. We started by throwing a little of our own money into the project so that we could travel to Ecuador and do our first filming. Over time I wrote grants and the money started coming in so that we could keep filming. We were funded by Independent Television Service and MacArthur Foundation, among others. We're so grateful we got the funding to finish the film properly. At the time, we were frustrated that it took so long to complete, but following Hugo and David for so long made for a much more interesting story. We got to see them go from being boys to being men, and doing so under some pretty difficult circumstances.

K: How do you envision the future of oil companies now with Equitable Origin setting standards for the oil and gas industry?

FR: It’s still early days for Equitable Origin, they are trying to do something so huge, and something so difficult. We will see how it goes. This story and responsible oil production matter everywhere, from communities in the Amazon to the fracking zones of North Dakota and the oil sands of Canada.

We’d like for the film to spark discussion on controversial energy issues. As David’s mentor Manuel Pallares says in the film “The stupidest way of using oil is burning it.” But it’s going to take time to transition away from oil to sustainable sources of energy, and even then, petroleum will be needed because it’s used to make products ranging from solar panels and electric cars to pacemakers and contact lenses. We’d like to see the question tackled: what really is a reasonable, safe, and justifiable plan for consuming oil going forward? David’s attempts to create a “fair trade” style certification system for oil and gas may or may not be the way forward, but we think it's well worth a try, and we believe it’s time to have a nuanced conversation about these issues. And we certainly think there's a heck of lot of room for the oil industry to clean up its practices, that is more than obvious. And there's a market for conflict-free products. Look at a company like Intel, they have a plan for a conflict-free supply chain by 2016. Intel believes in the market for their conflict-free product. Oil companies can do better, we as consumers need to put pressure on them to do better.

Oil and Water also shows how indigenous people and the poor being abused by the oil industry and fighting back. They are exerting sovereignty over their lands, and in ways one might not expect. Some indigenous people want to exploit the resources on their lands, and others don’t. In the case of the Cofan nation, Hugo’s own tribe, people we spoke with were suspicious of all outsiders including environmental groups, government officials and oil companies. They’ve felt misrepresented and patronized from having their land rights dictated to them. They especially want economic justice. We think this is a rich area for discussion and action, and appreciate how the film may be used to help advocate for indigenous rights.

Lastly, the environmental devastation that occurred in Ecuador could have been avoided. People were harmed and are still suffering. As filmmakers, we think it’s important to keep that story alive so that the international community can help.