This page is referenced by:

• 1 2014-06-30T14:04:33-07:00 Facing Iraq "As It Is" 3 plain 2014-06-30T14:07:42-07:00 Director Michael Clarke wrote of IPC’s first film project that, “in making The Third River we were faced with Iraq as it is, not with the luscious and cloying luxuries of a Hollywood gorgeous east.” The Third River crafted a positive image of the company for Iraqis with a coherent image of dignified and cooperative Iraqi oil workers, invested in the construction of the pipeline as a nation-building project. At the same time the film tied the project of oil extraction to the promise of modernity and social progress in Iraq. Notably, The Third River was also the first corporate public relations film of its kind; that is, a sponsored documentary foremost intended for general audiences in Iraq, and secondarily for English-speaking audiences in Britain. Clarke recalls that the film “was shown…extremely widely, yes. It was shown in 35 and 16, it was shown in every cinema in Iraq. This was so different from the specialized film and the all the too specialized distribution we were used to in most of the documentary business.” The company’s decision to screen the film in cooperation with the Iraqi government as an event for the cinema-going public in Iraqi cities indicated a shift away from the strategy of Anglo-Iranian’s public relations efforts, which were directed almost entirely toward the British population. Running just shy of thirty minutes, The Third River documents the construction in 1951 of the 555 mile-long pipeline planned to bring oil from the fields of Kirkuk in northern Iraq to the port of Banias on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. This was to be the world’s largest capacity pipeline, deemed in the film’s narration as Iraq’s “Third River” – a river of oil.
  The filmmakers captured the tedious and repetitive procedures involved in transporting and assembling the thirty-inch pipeline, one thirty-one-foot long steel pipe segment at a time. Tracking the gradual movement of the pipe-laying crews from the origin point in Banias, across the dessert and into Iraq, the black and white images dynamically capture a glimpse of the labor and the landscape required to fuel carbon-based economies in the modern world. The Third River presented Iraqi, Syrian and British audiences in the 1950s an unparalleled, close-up perspective on the infrastructure of oil extraction, and the construction of the new pipeline that would deliver unprecedented quantities of Iraq’s so-called black gold to the European market – yielding unprecedented quantities of petro-dollars. However, in his discussion of the making of The Third River, director Michael Clarke suggested that, “To a great extent the 30 in. line served as a vehicle to convey impressions of the life and background of modern Iraq as the ‘cradle of civilization’ – as all important focal point of industrial development and as a land of sound economic promise.”
• 1 2014-06-30T14:05:11-07:00 Big Screen Development 3 plain 2014-07-07T18:12:26-07:00 The Third River was of particular significance in the context of the political landscape in 1952. The company made this film not only to document its impressive operations, but more so as a political statement to the Iraqi government. In the aftermath of the Iranian Oil Crisis, the film is an effort to communicate very explicitly to the widest possible audience that the company took seriously its investment and determination to increase output of oil through the larger pipeline. The film and its promotional booklet rarely mention the company and instead focus on the achievements and potential of the country. Oil in its material form is never pictured in the film; however it is described vividly and powerfully in the narration and accompanying promotional booklets as “the lifeblood” of modern Iraq. Once complete, the pipeline’s projected capacity was estimated to result in a dramatically increased flow of fourteen million tons of crude oil per year from Iraq. This would more than double the existing annual output of eight million tons of oil that had initiated its course from Kirkuk to the port of Tripoli, Lebanon via a sixteen-inch pipe the previous year. As the clip above shows, the film maps the construction and flow of oil for viewers, uncritically emphasizing the colonial practice of extraction of oil from Iraq and transportation to Europe, "where the oil is needed." This significant turning point in the profit margins of IPC stockholders was coupled by the major turn of events in Baghdad resulting from the new 50-50 profit-sharing agreement in 1951 that would exponentially increase the Iraqi government’s income from oil production. Immediately following the renegotiation, the government establishment the Development Board to oversee the allocation of 70% of total revenues towards national development schemes. The five-year development plan (1951-1955) that the Iraqi government produced prior to the renegotiation had focused narrowly on national schemes for improving irrigation, flood-control, and transportation in Iraq; however, in light of the new agreement with IPC and substantial increase in development funds as a result of increase projected output, the plan was significantly revised. Continued assessment and revision of the plans eventually resulted in a large investment in urban development projects including the planning and construction of new bridges, hospitals, schools, roads, public buildings, and public housing in the capital.