When BP’s Macondo oil well exploded in 2010, it killed 11 men and spilled over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In the tiny South Louisianan fishing community Grand Isle, the countdown began as locals watched the murky expanse creep into their lapping crystal water, leaving behind a horrifying red paste along the shoreline.

The entire Gulf ecosystem collapsed within two years, not from the spill directly, but rather from the dispersants sprayed by BP’s aircrafts to sink the oil out of sight – and to the seabed. „Where all life starts“, laments one trawlerman as he ponders his future. As crustaceans burst with tumours and healthy people fall ill, BP wash their hands clean by pronouncing the waters „safe“ once again.

Spending two years after the oilspill recording life on Grand Isle, filmmaker Juliet Brown exposes one of the greatest ecological disasters in recent history and its impact on local lives.  – Sunshine Wong