Topophilia

An Examination of Place and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is one of the world's longest conduits for crude oil, stretching 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay in the north to Port Valdez in the south. Mostly raised due to permafrost and only 48 inches in diameter, the pipeline has moved 17 billion barrels of oil since its completion in 1977.

TOPOPHILIA is both a matter-of-fact examination of the entire pipeline and downstream ports and refineries in Los Angeles, as well as a geographic examination of place within the greater context of social and environmental forces. The silent film was constructed from more than 100,000 still photographs. Its images present industrial magnificence next to natural sublimity in ways that highlight equivalencies, tensions, and contradictions.

Official Selection at the Locarno International Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival and CPH:DOX -- Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.

"Exquisite study of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline." - The Museum of Modern Art