The 2018 Peace on Earth Film Festival is March 9-11 at Chicago’s Davis Theater. The annual fest strives to raise “awareness of peace, nonviolence, social justice and an eco-balanced world.”

Nick Angotti, festival co-founder and executive director, joins us to preview the film A Crude Injustice. The documentary follows the aftermath of Australia’s biggest offshore oil catastrophe and its lasting impact on the people of West Timor. On Aug. 21, 2009, a wellhead in the Montara oil field off the West Australian coast blew-out. For more than 70 days, crude oil gushed into the Timor Sea. The oil slick would cover almost 35,000 square miles.

To minimize the spill’s impact, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority poured more than 47,000 gallons of chemical dispersants onto the expanding slick. Newspapers reported that West Timor communities noticed dead fish floating in now milky colored waters. Dead dolphins began washing up on beaches. An unknown disease struck seaweed farms. Most tragically, people began to get sick and die.

Jane Hammond, director of A Crude Injustice, also joins us. She’ll talk about documenting the environmental disaster and how the West Timorese sought justice. A Crude Injustice screens at the Peace on Earth Film Festival on March 10th, 2018 at 12:00.