“Coal Country” is a film about mountaintop removal and its effects on coalfield communities. It follows environmentalists and local activists as they explain the impact of coal mining on their lives. But unlike some other recent films, “Coal Country” also introduces the audience to miners and others who depend on the industry.
There were rumors coal supporters would picket the mountaintop removal documentary.
But rather than throngs of men and women wearing mining stripes and bearing signs, Saturday’s mining supporters were harder to spot. They wore shirts bearing their various affiliations: Walker Machinery, Argus Energy, Friends of Coal. They stood in the lobby of the state Culture Center.
Some said they weren’t going to watch the movie. Matt Simms says he’s already heard what the environmentalists have to say.
“We came to protest the movie,” he said. “We don’t approve of it. They’re trying to take our jobs.”
But most stayed. Joe Savilla works for Petroleum Products.
“I may stay and watch the movie and see if it’s just another slam-dumb documentary for the other side,” he said.
“You know, you don’t confuse these people with the facts. Their minds are already made up. They don’t talk about anything good mining does for the state of West Virginia and surrounding areas.”
Charleston filmmaker Bob Gates contributed much of the footage of mountaintop removal sites to “Coal Country.” He’s been documenting mountaintop removal for decades; it’s always been bad, he says, but now it’s worse than ever.
“It’s easy to forget how bad strip mining really was,” he said. “Virtually every mountain in southern West Virginia had rings cut around it. You could see it in landslides and silt in the creeks.
“But now we have these massive strip mines. I flew around one in a helicopter at full speed and it took me five minutes to circle the strip mine.”
Only two days before the premier, it came close to being cancelled. The venue was originally the LaBelle Theater in South Charleston. But last Wednesday the museum’s board of directors cancelled the showing because they were worried violence would break out.
The Culture Center agreed at the last minute to host the premier.
Filmmakers held a reception before the event. The crowd divided itself like guests at a wedding: environmentalists to the left, mine supporters to the right.
They filed together into the auditorium, which was completely packed with several dozen people left without seats.
Before “Coal Country” began, executive producer Mari-Lyn Evans stood and thanked several people that were in the film. Most received polite applause. But when she thanked former Congressman Ken Hechler, there was a course of loud “boos” amid the applause, which prompted Hechler’s supporters to give him a standing ovation.
During the film, there was much applause and heckling from both sides.
After the premier, several people began a heated discussion on the steps of the Culture Center, but they were dispersed by State Police.
Evans is a Braxton County native. Her first film, The Appalachians, contained 15 minutes of mountaintop removal footage. Now she’s relieved that her movie focusing on mountaintop removal is finally premiering, despite the controversy surrounding it.
“I think it says a lot more about the political and social and economic environment of the coalfields, especially in West Virginia, than it does about the fact that I’ve made a balanced documentary film that shows both sides of the issue,” she said.
Evans and director Phylis Geller spent four years making the movie on a $1 million budget. The film took them through Raleigh, Boone and Mingo counties, along with trips to southwestern Virginia, Ohio and Washington, D.C.
Evans says the opposite sides of the mountaintop removal debate have failed to communicate. She hopes her film will spark a dialogue.
“I think one thing I hope will strike people in the film is just how much in common the coal miners have with the community activists,” she said. “I mean, they both live in the communities, they both work there. And they both want good jobs. They both want a healthy environment. They both want a future for their children.”
Evans says she’s working on a deal to widely distribute “Coal Country” to PBS stations across the nation.