“This is not the movie I intended to make,” begins local filmmaker

“This is not the movie I intended to make,” begins local filmmaker Sandy Cioffi’s intermittent narration at the opening of her documentary. I’m positive she never imagined that a documentary on a library built in a poor community in the Niger Delta would lead her into a passion project about the environmental devastation caused by the oil companies that would get her arrested by Nigerian government. She presents a provocative portrait of human devastation ignored in the name of commerce and oil. Along the way, she winds up an envoy of sorts and a part of the story, which her narration acknowledges without really confronting, which is particularly troubling in a film so supportive of their struggle and critical of the media coverage of the increasingly volatile conflict. The film also, intentionally or not, is an alarming illustration of how non-violent protest evolves into armed militancy as a matter of survival in such conditions. Cioffi’s presentation walks a fine line between grim explanation and defensive justification for the militant turn of the resistance. There’s nothing wrong with advocacy, but she never fully embraces that advocacy and how it shapes her coverage of the story.Sweet Crude Egyptian, 7 p.m., Wed., June 3; 1:30 p.m. Sat., June 13. Kirkland Performance Center, 1:30 p.m. Sun., June 7.