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THE UNOFFICIAL TRIAL OF ALEXANDRA MORTON

By Scott RENYARD

HORIZON MOTION PICTURES - as SALES All rights, World

Environmental - Completed 2017

A "cinema verite"documentary capturing the fact and deceits of an investigation into the prejudice towards Alexandra Morton an environmental investigator with her eyes and ears tuned to the degradation of the ocean.

- Year of production
- 2017
- Genres
- Environmental, Social issues, Documentary
- Countries
- CANADA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- 0.6 - 1 M$
- Duration
- 90 mn
- Director(s)
- Scott RENYARD
- Writer(s)
- Scott RENYARD
- Cast
- Alexandra MORTON
- Producer(s)
- Rob STRAIGHT (Horizon Motion Pictures)
- Synopsis
- Alexandra Morton is an environmental activist who in this film finds herself effectively on trial while testifying in an inquiry related to the effect of fish farms on wild salmon stocks.
  
  The crash of 19 stocks of Fraser River sockeye over a 15 year period forced the Canadian government to close all fishing from 2007 to 2009. The decline was so dramatic, it appeared the species was going extinct. The Canadian government, desperate for answers, or at least looking for a way to deflect criticism, struck an inquiry led by justice Bruce Cohen that would last over a year.
  
  For more than 20 years, Alexandra Morton, an independent biologist, has been a vocal campaigner against open net pen fish farms. Her research and subsequent publications outline a case that sea lice and disease from the farms have spread to wild salmon populations and is the source of the problem. But instead of embracing her findings, government and industry have vilified the whistleblower and tried many things to silence her.
  
  Finally, after a year of hearings, Morton appeared at the inquiry for two days. The battle lines were quickly drawn and the inquiry became more like a trial of a witness than an information gathering process. It is rare that partnerships between government and corporate interests are acknowledged in public. It’s even more rare to see it in action.