52′, directed by Jean-Pierre Carlon.
With the participation of France Télévisions and the support of the MEDIA Europe Creative program, the CNC, the PACA region, PROCIREP and ANGOA.
Other broadcasting: Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV).
Project selected at MEDIMED.
While the financial crash of 2008 plunges America into recession and unemployment, Williston, a small town lost in the middle of the arid landscapes of North Dakota but sitting on one of the largest shale oil deposits in the United States, is experiencing a veritable rush for black gold.
Victims of the economic crisis, thousands of men leave everything, from one day to the next, for this Eldorado of full employment, and Williston represents their last hope. Until 2014, it’s euphoria, hiring is going on, with salaries up to 4 times higher than the national average.
Everyone imagined that they were in a situation that would last for years, but this was without taking into account the colossal stakes induced by oil. It was out of the question for the OPEC countries, led by Saudi Arabia, to allow America to regain the first place in the rank of oil producers.
Thus, at Christmas 2014, everything turned upside down, and within a few months we witnessed the collapse of the price of a barrel. In North Dakota, there is panic. In the prevailing slump, not everyone is in the same boat, of course, but oil groups like Oasis, Schlumberger or Halliburton, which see their activity drop by 40% in a few days, eliminate jobs by the hundreds.
Drilling has stopped; this is the beginning of a long oil war and the end of a boom that is now only spoken of in the past tense.
In the meantime, the men who are at the heart of my film are still trying to survive this disaster. In what state will we find the survivors, those who still cling to the shreds of the American dream? Will they be sacrificed once again on the altar of globalization and profit? In this world that functions only on the lure of profit, who still cares about the fate of people and the damage done to the planet?
In an America where greed runs on oil, no matter what the cost, as long as the system continues to run at full speed, they see their future hanging on the price of a barrel of oil. They embody a world that is beyond them, but in which they are still trying to move forward.
A parable of an American dream, creator of inequalities, which would try to rise from its ashes in the land of black gold, at the risk of drowning.
Website : http://or-noir-le-nouveau-reve-americain.com/