AMSTERDAM — Word of a muckraking, two-hour documentary on the tar sands marked Canada’s presence during the early days of the IDFA.

One of the pitches on the opening day of the Amsterdam festival’s prestigious Forum was delivered by Alberta filmmaker Niobe Thompson in tandem with CBC’s Michael Claydon on that controversial topic. Tipping Point: The End of Dirty Oil promises to be a no-holds-barred investigation into what they call an ‘environmental freakshow, spewing cancer-causing toxins into aboriginal waterways and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.’

Already financed by the CBC, CTF, Alberta Film Development and the Canwest Independent Film Fund to the tune of some $726,000, the project still requires $259,000 for completion. Claydon and Thompson, the co-founder of Clearwater Media with doc veteran Tom Radford, intend to create the doc in tandem with The Nature of Things and hosted by David Suzuki. Clearwater will also create a 90-minute international version without Suzuki’s on-screen participation.

Both Claydon and Thompson expect tough reactions from the Alberta and Canadian governments over the doc, which features opponents to the sands effort including Dene Chief Allan Adam; Frances Beinecke, head of the National Resources Defense Council in the U.S.; and Canadian environmentalist David Schindler.

Schindler’s devastating findings of medical and environmental damage caused by the exploitation of the sands will be published in two months by the prestigious American National Academy of Science. They will ‘blindside the Alberta government,’ according to Claydon, and be featured in the doc. Thompson is also expecting over the next two months to film ‘green celebrity’ Leonardo di Caprio speaking out against the wholesale pillaging of the tar sands in order to allow North Americans to continue to ‘be addicted to oil.’

Claydon says he’s ‘not concerned’ about a possible Conservative backlash to the doc. ‘This is a national embarrassment. To me, supporting this film is a no-brainer,’ he said.

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam runs until Nov. 29