Maria Ceballos-Wallis is a researcher with the Australian Broadcasting Company. When I met her at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Social Justice Award reception, she had a glass of wine in her hands and was talking about the work of documentary filmmakers and marine biology Robert Smith. In order to discover more about oil, where it comes from, and the nature of our dependance on it, he traveled the world, often as a film crew of one, to uncover its secret history.

The result is this film, Crude. You can see it as festivals (it garnered awards in Jackson Hole) and streaming on the web if its not showing on an ABC Channel near you.

Check out the streaming video and interviews at:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/crude/

 To read more of my review of the film, visit:

http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jan/30/emcrudeem/