ABOUT THE FILM
The 1969 Union Oil blowout mobilized the Santa Barbara community to fight for the environment, inspiring the creation of many nonprofit organizations, Earth Day, the Environmental Protection Agency and one of the first interdisciplinary Environmental Studies programs.
“We all feel like we’re part of an ecosystem, that there’s an ecology of our relationships, so that what affects one person, affects us all in some way. We’re tied in an inescapable web of mutuality and interdependence."
— David Pellow
Chair, UCSB Environmental Studies Program
The legacy of the oil spill continues to inform the citizens, who have come together over the years to protect the air and water, preserve open spaces and for each other, as to when 3,000 volunteers joined the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade to dig mud from homes after the deadly 2018 debris flow. As the world faces a global climate disruption, the community needs to come together as never before.
Best Documentary Feature, Santiago Independent Film Awards
Finalist, Ted Turner Prize for Environmental Stewardship
Finalist, Best Special Focus Documentary, LA Femme Film Festival
Official Selection
2019 Santa Barbara International Film Festival
2019 Bozeman International Film Festival
2019 LA Femme Film Festival
2019 Santa Barbara Surf Film Festival
2020 Nature Track Film Festival
2020 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
2020 Earth Day Film Festival
2021 Santa Barbara Earth Day Green Film Festival
2021 Angaelica Film Festival
Better Together features the following organizations:
350.org-Santa Barbara; African Women Rising; Chumash Maritime Association; Citizen's Planning Association of Santa Barbara County; Committees for Land, Air, Water and Species; Community Environmental Council; Direct Relief; Environmental Defense Center; Food & Water Watch; Get Oil Out!; Gaviota Coast Conservancy; Habitat for Humanity of Santa Barbara County; Mission Blue; Montecito Trails Foundation; Pisces Foundation; Santa Barbara Audubon Society, Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade; Santa Barbara Channelkeeper; Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue; Santa Barbara Declaration of Environmental Rights; Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network; SB Strong; Sierra Club Santa Barbara; The Solutions Project; UCSB Environmental Studies.