The environmental desolation of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 sparked the largest coordinated oceanic research effort in history: as contamination spread across the Gulf of Mexico, an international community of scientists joined forces to understand and mitigate the impacts of petroleum pollution. Dispatches from the Gulf, the newest installment of the Journey To Planet Earth series narrated by Matt Damon, reports from the frontlines of this groundbreaking initiative, demonstrating how research helps us remedy even our most disastrous failures.  

Directed and produced by Hal and Marilyn Weiner. Introduced by Dr. Kirk Johnson, Sant Director, National Museum of Natural History. Special guests Dr. Rita Colwell, Dr. Mandy Joye, Dr. Martin Grosell, Dr. Steven Murawski.

* This 2016 Festival selection complements the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Anthropocene: Life in the Age of Humans series. For more information about this series, visit go.si.edu/ageofhumans.