Just after midnight on Good Friday, 1989, the giant super tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound to create one of the biggest man-made ecological disasters of the 20th century.

Eleven million gallons of crude oil gushed from the stricken tanker into the pristine waters of the Sound, killing whales, thousands of sea otters and millions of fish and birds. The spill had a catastrophic effect on local communities, wiping out their herring fishery and severely depleting the Alaskan salmon industry for years to come.

The captain of the Exxon Valdez had been drinking that day, but that was just the start of the calamity. The aftermath led to bitter disputes over the mis-managed clear-up operation. Law suits brought on behalf of 32,000 local victims lasted nearly twenty years, as Exxon fought the $5 billion damages awarded against them all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Twenty years on, Oil Spill: The Exxon Valdez Disaster retraces the catalogue of errors that led to the disaster and investigates the legacy of the spill and the lasting environmental damage to Prince William Sound. This powerful and haunting documentary features interviews with crew members aboard the super tanker on the fateful night, Exxon executives and Alaskan politicians in the eye of the storm, and with the local fishermen and activists who had prophetically warned of disaster - and now lead the fight for justice.