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Bullfrog Films
P.O. Box 149
Oley, PA 19547
Tel: 610/779-8226
Fax: 610/370-1978
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Black Diamonds
Mountaintop Removal & The Fight For Coalfield Justice
Examines the escalating drama in Appalachia over mountaintop removal mining.
72 minutes
DVD version with special features available - see below
Color
Grade Level: 7 - 12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 2006
Copyright Date: 2006
ISBN (VHS): 1-59458-611-X
ISBN (DVD): 1-59458-612-8
Directed by Catherine Pancake
Research, Consulting, Interviews by Ann Pancake
Graphic Design by Randy Miller
Narrated by Lauren Graham
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"Searing...vividly depict[s] the catastrophic ecological and cultural effects wrought by mountaintop removal." Michael Yockel, Baltimore Magazine
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BLACK DIAMONDS charts the escalating drama in Appalachia over the alarming increase in large mountaintop coal mines. These mammoth operations have covered 1200 miles of headwater streams with mining waste; demolished thousands of acres of hardwood forest; and flattened hundreds of Appalachian mountain peaks.
Citizen testimony and visual documentation interwoven with the perspectives of government officials, activists, and scientists create a riveting portrait of an American region fighting for its life--caught between the grinding wheels of the national appetite for cheap energy and an enduring sense of Appalachian culture, pride, and natural beauty.
The film includes testimony from Julia Bonds, WV citizen-turned-activist, who received the 2003 Goldman Award (the nation's largest environmental activist award); Ken Hechler, former WV Secretary of State; William Maxey, former Director of WV Division of Forestry; and the many citizens of West Virginia.
NOTE: The director of BLACK DIAMONDS, Catherine Pancake, is available to appear at screenings of this film. Please contact us for details.
DVD version: with chapters for easy reference.
Awards:
Editor's Choice, Video Librarian
Silver Chris Award, Columbus International Film & Video Festival
Best Documentary, Southern Appalachian International Film Festival
Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media Award
Jack Spadaro Award, Appalachian Studies Conference
Showcase Screening, Columbus International Film & Video Festival
Society for Visual Anthropology, American Anthropological Association Film Festival
Finalist, North American Assn for Environmental Education/Albert I Pierce Foundation Film & Video Festival
Anchorage International Film Festival
West Virginia International Film Festival
Kansas International Film Festival
Takoma Park Film Festival
Heartwood's Annual Forest Council / Summit for the Mountains
Mountain Summer Justice Film Fest
Reviews:
"A searing...documentary...mixes history, sociology, advocacy journalism, and personal portraits vividly depicting the catastrophic ecological and cultural effects wrought by mountaintop removal." Michael Yockel, Baltimore Magazine
"A riveting and ultimately energizing documentary...plays like a modern-day "Civil Action," only this time the corporate baddies are the leaders and mouthpieces of the coal industry, and the grass-roots crusaders are poor Appalachian residents who are rich in courage and culture. In a scant hour-plus, "Black Diamonds" provides a thumbnail economic and political history of coal mining in the state, a textured portrait of Appalachian life and a convincing case for ending the environmental scourge of decapitating mountains to get to the coal buried inside them." Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
"BLACK DIAMONDS A MASTERPIECE... The Pancake sisters of West Virginia have created the best film to date on the subject of mountaintop removal mining... Presents the first complete overview of the subject... Black Diamonds is an epic film about the monumental collision between the demand for cheap energy and the century-long victims of this demand, the people, the land, the living Appalachian forests, the innocent animals and the very water and air they breathe." Steve Fesenmaier, Graffiti
"Excellent...This searing documentary...belongs in all libraries (school, public, and university) in the coal mining regions of Appalachia. Other ecologically minded university and college libraries could also benefit from its purchase...I whole-heartedly and enthusiastically recommended this timely and important documentary." Charles Burkart, Media Bibliographer, West Virginia University, Educational Media Reviews Online
"The film offers a broad view of the history of mountaintop removal mining, detailing the protests, pleas, lawsuits and lobbying being done by local community groups determined to end this horrible mining practice...Pancake interviews activists, politicians, and coal company officials, painting a complete picture of the fight for coal and the demands for justice. As mountains, streams, and an entire culture in Appalachia are sacrificed to extract more coal, Black Diamonds takes an unadulterated view of the real cost of our energy demands." In Brief, Earthjustice
"America's Appalachian region, particularly West Virginia, has suffered disfigurement which is superbly chronicled in this masterful examination of the causes, effects, and potential solutions to this economic, political, and social crisis...The story presented in this compelling film needs to be shared." Dwain Thomas, Lake Park High School, School Library Journal
"Black Diamonds' real power comes from accounts by people in the small towns who have literally seen their world ravaged and wrecked by the coal companies...Some 55% of American electricity is generated by coal; in this case, however, the costs acutely outweigh the benefits. Highly Recommended" Video Librarian, Editor's Choice
"Catherine Pancake makes her film stand out from the rest...appropriate for various audiences, including high school and college students...The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) predicts that, in 2030, coal-powered plants will continue to be the leading U.S. source of electricity, so the film should remain relevant for some time" AAAS' Science Books & Films
"Mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia is uprooting not only nature, but people too. Black Diamonds documents the struggles of West Virginia mining towns whose intimate relationship with coal is scraping away their communities. Filmmaker Catherine Pancake interviews residents seeking permanence as eerily close blasts send clouds of particulates over their homes. Impassioned local activists, she reveals, are no match for the coal industry and its allies in the current administration...[Black Diamonds] brings visibility to a group of people whose lives have been marred by the insatiable lust for fuel." Utne Reader
"Recommended for public library collections on environmental media." Library Journal
Related Subjects:
American Studies
Appalachia
Anthropology
Business Practices
Energy
Environment
Environmental Ethics
Geography
Geology
Human Rights
Pollution
Rivers
Science
Technology and Society
Sociology
Toxic Waste
Water
Related Links:
Black Diamonds web site
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition web site
Related Titles:
Razing Appalachia: Explores the controversial issue of mountaintop removal mining by following a grassroots fight to stop the process in West Virginia.
Southbound: Examines logging in the southeastern US and the controversy over chip mills.
The Four Corners: The "hidden" cost of energy development in the homeland of the Hopi, Navajo, and Mormons.
Drowned Out: An Indian family chooses to stay at home and drown rather than make way for the Narmada Dam.
Drumbeat for Mother Earth: Toxic chemicals are the greatest threat to the survival of indigenous peoples.
In Our Own Backyard: First brush the U.S. had with toxic waste at Love Canal.
Poison in the Rockies: Threats to water quality in the Colorado Rockies.
In Our Own Backyards: How does uranium mining impact the land and the health of people?
Borderline Cases: The environmental impact of the 2,000 factories (maquiladoras) on the US-Mexico border.
Redwood Summer: Documents both sides in the summer of struggle between environmentalists vs. loggers and timber companies.
Fury for the Sound: Women's contribution to the battle to save the rainforest at Clayoquot Sound.
Playing with Poison: American anthropologist investigates the side-effects on children of pesticide use.
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