Nailah Jefferson/ 2014/ 91 min/ Health & Environment
FILM DESCRIPTION: Vanishing Pearls is the story of paradise lost – an ongoing, environmental David and Goliath struggle between multinational oil and gas company BP plc (Beyond Petroleum) and a 300 person, Louisiana Gulf community dependant on oyster fishing. The battlefield is the Gulf coast of Louisiana, and the opening salvo was the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. For over a century, the people of Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana have survived by fishing off of the plentiful waters surrounding their community. Over time, the powerful oil and gas industry has threatened this small, tight knit community’s way of life, culminating with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. Told from the point of view of the film’s “David”, local oyster fishing businessman Byron Encalade, we learn how a once prolific fishing community has nearly vanished.