麻豆社

In February 1996, the Liberian oil tanker Sea Empress ran aground at the entrance to Milford Haven, one of the busiest ports in the UK. Within hours, crude oil began pouring into the sea. Over the following week, more than 70,000 tonnes spread across the coastline of Pembrokeshire, blackening beaches, poisoning wildlife and transforming a thriving tourist region into the centre of an environmental emergency, watched on by the world.

Black Waters tells the story of how a community and a coastline was devastated by the spill, and how they both recovered. At sea, an unprecedented 拢60 million salvage operation battled storms, shifting tides and failing technology in a desperate attempt to stabilise the vessel and stop the leak. On land, communities mobilised almost overnight. Ordinary people worked around the clock to clean contaminated beaches, rescue oil-soaked birds and protect a coastline that defined both their livelihoods and identity.

Using intimate first-hand testimony, contemporary news archive and immersive CGI reconstruction, the film unfolds in real time, revealing how new problems emerged each day, and how decisions made under extreme pressure would shape the outcome of the disaster. The story builds towards the official investigation, exposing what went wrong, who was held accountable, and why warnings were missed.

Thirty years on, the effects of the spill are still felt in the memories of those who witnessed it. Black Waters is not only the story of an ecological catastrophe, but of resilience, responsibility and a community determined that what happened in 1996 should never be forgotten.