Energy Group to Academy: No Oscar for Gasland!

Film includes 'outright falsehoods:' letter
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 15, 2011 8:45 AM CST
Energy Group to Academy Awards: No Oscar for 'Gasland' Documentary!
In this June 15, 2010 photo, filmmaker Josh Fox poses along a stream running through his property in Milanville, Pa. Fox's new documentary, "Gasland," takes on the natural gas drilling industry.   (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)

It's not uncommon for industries to try and discredit documentaries that harm their image, but this time, an energy group is appealing directly to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Energy in Depth wants to make sure the Academy knows that Gasland should not be considered for an Oscar because of its "many errors, inconsistencies, and outright falsehoods," according to a letter from the group.

Energy in Depth calls Gasland, a documentary about a controversial oil or gas extraction process known as "fracking," a work of "stylized fiction," the Los Angeles Times reports. But at least one expert calls the group's complaints "nitpicking." And the letter will probably end up helping the film, anyway: Relatively few people have seen it, compared to other popular documentaries, and this controversy is bringing new attention to it. Says one communications expert, "They've given the film another lease on life." (Click for another Gasland-related incident, this one involving a celebrity.)

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