Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives On The Alberta Tar Sands 2009

With imagery straight out of a surreal sci-fi, Petropolis, a film co-sponsored by Greenpeace, is a visual document of Alberta, Canada's controversial mammoth tar sands. Taking up an area of similar size to New England, this man-made phenomenon could only be understood via aerial photography. Peter Mettler, the cinematographer of Manufacture Landscapes, has vividly captured, sans voice-over or narration, the ecological horror and beauty of this project.