Short film “The hidden face of a spill” participates in Arequipa film festival

• “The hidden face of a spill: Cuninico, ten years later” is a short film made by Pueblo Films and produced by SPDA.

The short film “La cara oculta de un derrame: Cuninico ten years later” was screened last Wednesday, January 22nd at the international film festival Censurados, held in Arequipa. This short film reveals the current situation of the Cuninico community (Loreto) 10 years after the oil spill of more than 2,300 barrels of hydrocarbons in the Cuninico ravine. 

The eleventh edition of the Censored Film Festival is an international film festival that brings together various documentaries and short films that address issues of human rights and freedom of expression. 

The screening was followed by a discussion between Audrey Córdova, producer of the film, and Wendy Ancieta, legal coordinator of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA). 

Conversatorio tras proyección de cortometraje. Foto: SPDA

Audrey Córdova described the research process involved in making this audiovisual material:  

“The research process took 3 months, we gathered information from the community, we talked to the apus to explain what we wanted to do (...) What this short film shows us is that, 10 years after this spill, the State still does not comply with the contingency measures”, she specified.

For her part, Wendy Ancieta assured that the Cuninico spill is an emblematic case of environmental contamination, as it is still unresolved:  

“Cuninico is still in the news 10 years after the spill in 2014 because the case remains unresolved. People went to the judicial instances, however, what was ordered by the justice system has not been fulfilled (...) We cannot stop asking ourselves if environmental remediation is so important in Peru. How much priority is given to these issues? We have the Cuninico case that is more than 10 years old, but also a recent one: the oil spill in Ventanilla, which, to date, has no approved remediation plan”, he mentioned.

Conversatorio tras proyección de cortometraje. Foto: SPDA

It is worth mentioning that this short film competed in the Peruvian Voices Competition category along with other screenings such as “Ojalá pudiera decir la verdad” (I wish I could tell the truth), “Puno sí es el Perú” (Puno truly is Peru), “Lo que Dina se llevó” (What Dina took away) and “Sara” (Sara). 

Repeated spills

The spill in Cuninico came from the Norperuvian Pipeline, operated by Petroperu. However, it is not an isolated situation. From March 2011 to May 2014, there have been approximately 100 oil spills, according to information recorded by the Environmental Evaluation and Oversight Agency (OEFA). 

Faced with the constant environmental impacts in this area, the SPDA launched the #HazteCargo initiative, with the purpose of making visible the environmental problems caused by the Norperuvian Pipeline with oil spills.

An SPDA report determined the actions to be taken by the Peruvian authorities to remediate the affected area and, above all, to guarantee the protection of the human rights of the citizens.

Synopsis of the short film

Ten years after one of the most devastating spills in the Peruvian jungle, which occurred in June 2014, the population of Cuninico (Loreto) denounces continuing to suffer from various gastrointestinal diseases, dermatitis, allergies and headaches. Immersed in the daily life of the community, this documentary reveals, through an in-depth investigation, the violation of indigenous rights due to insufficient access to health and drinking water, despite having won a landmark court ruling.

Data

According to the report prepared by the Working Group on Hydrocarbon Impacts of the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH), from 1997 to 2023, the Peruvian State registered 1,462 oil spill emergencies.