Seattle-based film crew held in Nigeria

Four people from a Seattle-based film crew and a Nigerian man accompanying them have been detained for illegally traveling by boat in southern Nigeria's restive oil-rich creeks, officials said.

Security forces pitted against militants in the Niger Delta consider much of the vast wetland region a military zone and have barred outsiders from traveling there without express consent by authorities.

Nigerian Brig. Gen. Wuyep Rintip said the group was seized Saturday for flouting the ban and was to be flown to the capital, Abuja.

The Americans are Sandy Cioffi, 46, director of the documentary "Sweet Crude"; producer Tammi Sims, 35; crew members Cliff Worsham, 39, and Sean Porter, 25; and Joel Bisina, a peace mediator and founder of Niger Delta Professionals for Development in Warri.

Cioffi is a full-time professor in Seattle Central Community College's film and video program and currently on sabbatical, and crew members Worsham and Porter are former students, said Leslye Wood, spokeswoman for "Sweet Crude." The group was there to finish up filming, she said.

A Seattle Community Colleges spokeswoman said Cioffi was an independent filmmaker and that her work on "Sweet Crude" was not associated with the college.

Wood said Nigerian government officials on Monday allowed a U.S. Embassy representative to visit the detained filmmakers. It was the government's first concession since detaining the film crew, said Wood.

Wood said Aaron Hellman, a spokesman for the Overseas Citizens Services, a division of the State Department, told supporters the Americans were reportedly tired but in good health. Wood said a U.S. Embassy representative was to return to check on the detainees today, but Hellman would not disclose any details about the Embassy's plan to help gain their release.

Made intentions known

The filmmakers have been accused of traveling in the country illegally.

Wood said the crew had been documenting the impact of oil production on the Niger Delta since 2005. They were "known to authorities," she said.

The Americans "entered the country legally on April 5, having notified authorities about their intentions to film and to make a visit to a library they had helped build," Wood said in a prepared statement.

A lawyer was retained for the group but has been denied contact with them as well as information on charges, Wood said.

Wood said she got a phone call in Seattle on Saturday morning about 1:30 a.m. from Sims, who said the group had been detained at a checkpoint.

The women texted each other off and on for the next seven hours, "and then we lost contact," Wood said.

It was Cioffi's fourth trip to Nigeria, Wood said, and the filmmaker understood the dangers of entering the country. However, Cioffi was dedicated to telling the little-known story of the Niger Delta and was willing to take the risk, Wood said.

Cioffi had never encountered problems on previous trips, Wood added.

"They were quite diligent about being transparent on their visa applications about their purpose for entering the country," Wood said.

Local backing

Family, friends and colleagues are making a plea for their immediate release.

A Seattle coffeehouse owner has been a prime financial backer for "Sweet Crude," with a $40,000 investment. "We felt like it was a story that was not being told," documenting complex issues surrounding oil production in the Niger Delta, said Jody Hall, owner of Vérité Coffee, which has locations in Ballard, West Seattle and Madrona. Hall said Cioffi had appealed to her for financial backing.

Various foreigners have been picked up in the Niger Delta in recent months as security forces stepped up efforts to quell unrest in the region.

Several foreigners, including two documentary filmmakers, were expelled from the country on alleged visa violations.

An American aid worker, long a resident in Nigeria, was arrested with those filmmakers and was charged with spying. The charges were later dropped and she was released.

Such events, Wood said, "underscored the importance of making your intentions known."

Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, pumps its crude from the Niger Delta, which remains deeply impoverished despite the natural bounty. Armed groups roam the region of creeks and swamps, stealing crude oil for resale and engaging in other criminal activities.

Some gunmen also launch militant attacks seeking to pressure the government to release their leaders and send more government-controlled oil revenues to the anarchic area. Their attacks have trimmed nearly one-quarter of Nigeria's daily crude output, helping to send oil prices soaring to historical highs in global markets.

The government considers all the gunmen criminals and hopes to end a recent upsurge of militant activity and general lawlessness.

Wood said she and others are "applying all the attention and pressure that we can" to officials at the State Department and the embassy in Abuja.

"We're hoping they will be able to come home soon," Wood said. "It's a dire situation."

Members of "Sweet Crude" producer Sims' family said they had been on the phone nonstop with relatives, friends and lawmakers.

"It's just about the worst call you can get, to hear your daughter is in jail in Africa," said Sims' father, Russell Pimley.

"Pressing her luck"

The Redmond woman had been to Nigeria at least twice before to help with the filming of the "Sweet Crude" documentary, Pimley said. But this time, he said, "her whole family tried to talk her out of going again."

"Everyone felt like she was pressing her luck."

He said he had grown worried after Sims came back from one of her trips with photos of her traveling on a river with people holding guns. "She always said, 'Oh Dad, nothing's going to happen,' " he said. "But if you have to be on a river like that ... it's obviously not the safest place in the world to be."

Sims, 35, teaches developmentally challenged adults in Seattle and worked with the "Sweet Crude" staff as a side project, Pimley said.

An early 100-minute version of "Sweet Crude" was shown here on two dates last spring as part of the Seattle International Film Festival.

According to the "Sweet Crude" Web site, Sims bonded with a disabled young man in Oporoza, Nigeria, during one of her trips and raised money for a scholarship fund that allowed him to continue his studies.

"She's got too big of a heart," Pimley said. "I'm proud of her, but when it gets to be dangerous ... it's tough."

Pimley said his son, Adam, used to work for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and alerted the senator about the situation. Tester has been in talks with the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria about Sims' release, Pimley said.

Times staff reporters Charles E. Brown and Sonia Krishnan contributed to this report.