Two members of the Eastern community gave the audience a taste of their co-directed documentary on how the British Petroleum oil spill affected the daily lives of residents along the Alabama coast.

On Sunday, co-directors of the documentary “Returning to Paradise: Voices of the Human Spirit” showed 30 minutes of interview clips and a discussion followed the preview.

Zach Nugent, a graduate student of technology and anchor, reporter and producer of WEIU-TV, co-directed the documentary with Cameron Craig, a geography professor and they both hosted the preview of the documentary they have been working on for the past year

“We wanted to show our most powerful interviews and video, and just show an overall broad view of what we saw,” Nugent said. “We went down there trying not to have any preconceived notions because we wanted this to be a story where we just take our cameras and show you exactly what we saw.”

The full hour documentary will air on WEIU-TV at 6 p.m. on Wednesday and at 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Sunday.

Craig said that he always prefers to have a reception and discussion to convey the integrated learning aspect of the experience, and this was the first full preview they have made.

“It gave the audience members a behind the scenes look at the documentary, and what is going on in the world, which I take to heart,” Craig said. “The audience members had some very good, thought provoking questions and it was great to see them invested in the discussion.”

Brittany Baker, a sophomore sociology major, said she attended the preview of “Returning to Paradise: Voices of the Human Spirit” because she thought it would be interesting and she has family north of Tampa, Fla., who have been affected by the oil spill.

“I had never really thought of how what the media shows us differs from the actual individual issues people are facing,” Baker said. “I thought it was very interesting to hear the interviewees said that BP isn’t really taking care of the situation with how they have not been paying them their claims.”

Nugent said they wanted to show the audience members exactly what they saw with their own eyes to show the conflict of the situation.

“We didn’t want to sensationalize or give more or less than what it really was,” Nugent said. “We are showing you exactly what we saw and exactly what the people are saying down there to let viewers come to their own decision about how they feel.”

The premiere of the documentary on Wednesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill.

“In the media, we have seen the impact on the environment and on the animals,” Craig said. “I think the big thing is that people will now see the stories of individuals that were impacted and see the anger and the constant day-to-day changes that they are still experiencing.”

Rachel Rodgers can reach me at 581-2812 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.