Washington College launches a series on labor journalism Tuesday evening, February 8 with the screening of a documentary film about one community’s experience with strip mining, followed the next afternoon by a reading from a recent book about the human costs of extracting coal.
The program, Coal Summit: Unearthing the High Price of Energy Independence, begins with the screening of On Coal River (81 minutes) at 7 p.m. in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts on the College campus. A Q & A session with filmmakers Adams Wood and Francine Cavanaugh will follow the screening.
Prior to their work on On Coal River, Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood co-directed and produced Boom—The Sound of Eviction (2002), a feature-length documentary about the social repercussions of San Francisco’s dot-com boom and bust; and Miami Model (2003), about the negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americans pact and the protests and police response it sparked.
On Wednesday afternoon, February 9, award-winning journalist Jeff Biggers will read from his 2010 book, Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland (Nation), at the Rose O’Neill Literary House, 407 Washington Avenue. The reading will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will be followed by a book signing.
On Coal River features a group of activists in West Virginia’s Coal River Valley who unite to move a school they fear is imperiled by ever-increasing amounts of toxic mining wastewater building up behind an earthen dam. Filmmakers Cavanaugh and Wood tell their story with compelling characters, and the cinematography captures the beauty of the mountains and the wreckage left by strip-mining. The film makes the health costs of silica dust in the air and toxic chemicals in the water horrifyingly personal. The Huffington Post called it “the most inspiring and triumphant story of a possible clean energy future.”
Cavanaugh and Wood said of the film, “This project, like our last film, is about a community under threat. Coal River Valley is home to people who have been sacrificing for a long time so that America can benefit from cheap electricity, and it’s still a very beautiful place. But people like Bo Webb are seeing their mountains blown up all around them and people like Maria Lambert are living with contaminated water coming out of their kitchen sinks. And they are organizing and confronting the problem in very courageous and creative ways. It’s an environmental story, but it’s also a very inspiring human story.”
On Coal River was six years in the making. “All along the way, we felt this huge amount of pressure to finish the film and get it out to the world,” said Wood. “We kept holding out for clear endings that seemed to be perpetually just around the corner. We finally edited together an ending that we were happy with, and we had two really dramatic developments, the first being the Upper Big Branch mine tragedy that happened in Coal River Valley. That was really awful to see, and it underscored the sacrifice so many people in Coal River make – regardless of what side they are on of a particular issue. The other development was an ending we had been waiting and hoping for since the early days of the project, and it was amazing to see it happen literally weeks before our premiere date.”
Adds Cavanaugh, “We learned that sometimes it’s better to take your time and let things simmer and other times you have to grab the opportunity when it presents itself. We have more faith in the documentary process now, and we’re better able to live with uncertainty. We are also learning how to know when to keep on your vision and at the same time know when to let up and allow life to take you in unexpected directions.”
While on campus, Cavanaugh and Wood, who grew up in Queen Anne’s County, will partner with Washington College technology instructors Brian Palmer and Nancy Cross to offer a student workshop on documentary filmmaking.
rcg says
“Cavanaugh and Wood, who grew up in Queen Anne’s County” – please, friends – let’s support our local artists!
John says
Thanks WAC for hosting another informative, entertaining evening for free. I’ll be there.
Mary Wood says
I want to thank Washington College’s Starr Center and Lit. House for the presentation of the On Coal River film,and the reading by Jeff Biggars. The film makers Adams and Francine gave the arrangements top marks. An enthusiastic audience turned up for both events thanks to posters around town and articles in the Kent News and the Chestertown Spy.