Rivalta (pop. 20,000), a town like many in the Turin metropolitan area, is unique for the 40-year battle it waged against the stench from two oil and solvent regenerating plants (OMA and Chimica) that operated without adequate environmental controls and despite protests by the local citizenry. What ultimately put an end to the nuisance was an Internal Revenue Service order to close the factories in 2000 because of unpaid municipal property taxes. The actor Beppe Rosso, drawing on modern literary classics like Suskind's bestseller Perfume: the Story of a Murder and Calvino's Invisible Cities, constructs an intriguing series of olfactory impressions that enhance Pastore's cinematographic work.
Oma e chimica
Localized Title
[Oma and chimica]
Genre
Documentary
Country
Italy
Year
2007
Duration
65'
Production Companies
Associazione Musicaround
Languages
Italian
Director's Notes
Director's Notes
«A 'short' yet emblematic story about two chemical firms that began operation when environmental awareness and environmental impact were either not contemplated or simply ignored in the interest of 'development'. At the battle's end, the factories lie still. The difficult job now is to take account of clean-up costs (to local taxpayers) and profits (to plant owners), while sorting out priorities between the cost to protect the environment and public health, conform with regulations and defend local jobs and the cost of eliminating hazardous industrial waste».
Pollution
Pollution
Water, air, and land are affected by a phenomenon that is spreading rapidly across the planet, from small to large scales, turning into a worldwide crisis due to plastic pollution.
Food on Film project
Partners
In collaboration with
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Creative Europe Media Program. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.