The Babushkas of Chernobyl

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72 Minutes
Filmmaker:  Holly Morris
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In the radioactive Dead Zone surrounding Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4, a defiant community of women scratch out an existence on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They share this hauntingly beautiful but lethal landscape with an assortment of visitors – scientists, soldiers, and even ‘stalkers’ – young thrill-seekers who sneak in to pursue post-apocalyptic video game-inspired fantasies. Why the film’s characters, Hanna, Maria and Valentyna, chose to return after the disaster, defying the authorities and endangering their health, is a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s destiny, and the subjective nature of risk.

Screens on Saturday, October 22 during BLOCK 6, which begins at 6:30 pm at the Frank Center on the Shepherd University Campus.

Catching the Sun

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2016 ACFF GREEN SPARK AWARD– HIGHLIGHTING PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABILITY
ACFF 2016 Green Spark Laurels large74 Minutes
Filmmaker: Shalini Kantayya
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Through the stories of workers and entrepreneurs in the U.S. and China, Catching the Sun captures the global race to lead the clean energy future. With countries like China investing in innovative technologies and capitalizing on this trillion-dollar opportunity, the film tells the story of the global energy transition from the perspective of workers and entrepreneurs building solutions to income inequality and climate change with their own hands. Their successes and failures speak to one of the biggest questions of our time: will the U.S. actually be able to build a clean energy economy?

Two screenings!  Screens on Sunday, October 23 during Block 7, which begins at 1:00 pm at Reynolds Hall on the Shepherd University Campus. Encore screening on Friday, Oct 28th during Block 11, which begins at 6:30 pm at Reynolds Hall.

Forget Shorter Showers

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11 Minutes
Filmmaker: Jordan Brown

Forget Shorter ShowersWould any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler? That composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday? That recycling would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with the entire world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions” for social change? Why are these solutions not sufficient? But most importantly, what can be done instead to actually stop the destruction of the planet? Based on an essay by Derrick Jensen published in Orion Magazine.

Screens on Friday, October 21 during BLOCK 1, which begins at 6:00 pm at the Byrd Center for Legislative Studies on the Shepherd University Campus.

The Burden: Fossil Fuel, The Military and National Security

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40 Minutes
Filmmaker: Roger Sorkin
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This film tells the story of fossil fuel dependence as our greatest long-term national security threat and why the military is leading the transition to clean energy. The Burden is the centerpiece of a strategic media engagement campaign to inspire a movement that strengthens our energy security and harnesses the power of American innovation to make us leaders in the 21st century global clean energy economy.

Screens on Saturday, October 22 during BLOCK 6, which begins at 6:30 pm at the Frank Center on the Shepherd University Campus.

Black Gold

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5 min

Filmmaker: Woonam Kim

Black Gold is an animated film that reflects on the story of traditional indigenous trading routes while questioning the value and impact of today’s expanding network of oil and gas pipelines in British Columbia.

7:00 Saturday at Reynolds Hall – Block 10

Black Gold

Blood on the Mountain

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93 min

Filmmakers: Mari-Lynn Evans, Jordan Freeman

Blood on the Mountain is a searing investigation into the economic and environmental injustices that have resulted from industrial control in West Virginia. This new feature documentary details the struggles of a hard-working, misunderstood people, who have historically faced limited choices and have never benefited fairly from the rich, natural resources of their land. This film delivers a striking portrait of a fractured population, exploited and besieged by corporate interests and abandoned by the powers elected to represent them.
6:30 Friday at the Byrd Center for Legislative Studies – Block 1

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Broken Landscape

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13 min

Filmmaker: Michael T. Miller

An explosion in unregulated ‘rat-hole’ coal mines turns a rural community in India into the Wild West until the environmental destruction prompts the government to ban coal mining completely. Mine owners and villagers clash in this moving examination of the cost of unmonitored industrial development.

3:57 pm on Saturday at the NCTC Byrd Auditorium – Block 7

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Elk River Blues

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58 min

Filmmaker: Mike Youngren

This story of systematic failure centers on the chemical spill in January 2014 into the Elk River near Charleston, WV. A coal-cleaning chemical fouled the area water system and closed the tap on 300,000 residents. The documentary asks, “Where were the agencies that are supposed to protect us from ourselves?” It discusses “Appalachian Fatalism”- the public tendency to accept hardship and disaster as a way of life. ERB also takes us to the watershed, the glorious headwaters where West Virginia’s abundant water resource emerges clean and pure.

7:50 pm on Friday at the Byrd Center for Legislative Studies – Block 1

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Overburden

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65 min

Filmmaker: Chad Stevens

After a coal mine disaster kills her brother, a pro-coal activist joins forces with a tree-hugging environmentalist to take on the most dangerous coal company in America, Massey Energy. As the coal industry faces extinction, will our two heroines be able to heal their wounded community?

4:15 pm on Saturday at the NCTC Byrd Auditorium

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White Earth

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ACFF Student Award Winner

20 min

Filmmaker: Christian J. Jensen

Thousands of desperate souls flock to America’s Northern Plains seeking work in the oil fields. White Earth is the tale of an oil boom seen through unexpected eyes. Three children and an immigrant mother brave a cruel winter and explore themes of innocence, home and the American Dream.

7:07 pm on Saturday at Reynolds Hall – Block 10

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