The Mountain Justice Film Festival is a three-day series of documentary works based around the devastating effects of mountain top removal practices in the coal industry and their effects on the land and people of Southern Appalachia.
The University of Tennessee, room 206 in the Claxton Addition. Claxton is just East of the library next to the College of Nursing, 1126 Volunteer Ave.
Contact: James Henry 773-9922
By executive producer Mari-Lynn Evans and writer and producer Phyllis Geller, is a story about the struggle for and with the land in the Appalachian region. Out of the culture and history,
"The Appalachians is an elegant film about a people and a region that are rarely examined beyond stereotypes" -The New York Times
The Appalachians reveals the vivid unforgettable faces of the land and the people. The film is a portrait framed with truth, passion, and respect for the Native Americans and the people who came to this land from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Africa, Mexico and virtually every other part of the world.
To tell the area's history, the producers use mountain songs as an integral part of the film. The lyrics tell the story of residents' lives, their emotions, their loves and their fears. The film features Johnny Cash in his last film interview. It also features Rosanne Cash, Loretta Lynn, Little Jimmy Dickens, Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs and others.
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man
Directed by Mimi Pickering, explores the 1972 collapse of a coal-waste dam owned by the Pittston Company in southern West Virginia which caused a wall of sludge, debris, and water to overrun the valley below, leaving in its wake 125 dead and 4000 homeless.
Interviews with survivors, representatives of union and citizen's groups, and officials of the Pittston Company are juxtaposed with actual footage of the flood and scenes of the ensuing devastation. As reasons for the disaster are sought out and examined, evidence mounts that company officials knew of the hazard in advance of the flood, and that the dam was in violation of state and federal regulations. The Pittston Company, however, continues to deny any wrongdoing, maintaining that the disaster was 'an act of God'.
"[Buffalo Creek Flood] A devastating expose of the collusion between state officials and coal executives...a powerful piece of muckraking on film." -Newsweek
Chicago International Film Festival - Silver Plaque, American Film Festival - Finalist
"People face death of friends and relatives, but when everything that was once familiar to them is also gone, the trauma is doubled. I think Buffalo Creek stands as a symbol of how important community is." -Beth Spence, journalist, Logan Co., WV in Buffalo Creek Revisited
Directed by Mimi Pickering, filmed ten years after the 1972 flood, looks at the second disaster on Buffalo Creek, in which the survivors' efforts to rebuild the communities shattered by the flood are thwarted by government insensitivity and a century-old pattern of corporate control of the region's land and resources. Through the statements of survivors, planners, politicians, psychologists, and community activists, the film explores the psychology of disaster, the value of community, and the paradox of a poor people living in a rich land.
American Film Festival — Finalist, Athens International Film Festival — Merit Award, Women in the Director's Chair — Award Winner, Sinking Creek Film Celebration — Award Winner
"To Save the Land and People is a wonderfully human and good humored presentation of a major tragedy. A downright truth-telling of a defeat without despair." --Professor George Stoney, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
To Save the Land and People
Directed by Anne Lewis, explores the strong resistance to unregulated strip mining in eastern Kentucky in the 1960s. Kentucky land was privately owned, but could be strip mined without the surface owner's consent under old broadform deeds which were upheld by the state's courts. During this critical time in coal mining history, an eastern Kentucky citizens activist group, the Appalachian Group to Save the Land and People, organized to fight strip mining. They used every means possible from legal petitions and local ordinances to guns and dynamite. To Save the Land and People tells the story of resistance in the voices of people who were directly involved and demonstrates the creativity and energy that indigenous and working class people bring to the environmental justice movement.
Directed by Robert Salyer, is a documentary that investigates a recent Kentucky coal waste disaster, in which a coal sludge impoundment broke through an underground mine below, propelling 306 million gallons of sludge (30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill). The spill polluted hundreds of miles of waterways, contaminated the water supply for over 27,000 residents, and killed all aquatic life in Coldwater Fork and Wolf Creek. Sludge reveals the hidden cost of America's coal production and the penalty exacted upon the people of the Appalachian Mountains in exchange for cheap electricity. Filmed over four years, the documentary chronicles the aftermath of the spill, the whistleblower case of Jack Spadaro, and the looming threat of coal sludge ponds throughout the region.
By Jeff Barrie, reveals the often unreported consequences of our predominantly coal and nuclear powered economy. From here, Barrie takes viewers on a journey from the coal mines of West Virginia to the solar panel fields of Florida, as he discovers solutions to America's energy related problems. Along the way, Jeff and his wife Heather share a plan to eliminate their use of coal and nuclear power at home by employing energy conservation, efficiency and clean, affordable renewable power.
Through their learning experience, viewers discover how they can save hundreds of dollars annually on energy bills, and use a portion of the savings to purchase green power. Kilowatt Ours invites viewers to help build a net zero nation, by conserving energy to the greatest extent possible at home and utilizing clean renewable options.
Posted: May 06 2006 Last Updated: February 06 2007
