We'll be at Appalachia Rising in Washington, D.C., working with amazing organizations, filmmakers, and regular folks on a series of workshops, activities, actions, and more. Join us! If you're anywhere near the D.C. area, this will be a weekend well-spent, and one you will not forget. The things you'll learn and the people you'll meet will change your life, guaranteed. A small chance to make a big difference.

Deep Down is inspired by folks all over the country who are learning about mountaintop removal mining and trying to make a difference. In particular, people of faith from all walks of life are contemplating the relationship between their beliefs and their impact on the environment. This fall, Deep Down will screen in Appalachian churches and other communities of faith across America. Below is a brief Q&A with Dixie Morgan, a self-proclaimed "newly born environmentalist," who is trying to make a difference.

For Appalachians, coal mining is either a vital source of survival or a massively destructive force. In Maytown, a small mining community in eastern Kentucky, the sedimentary rock pits neighbor against neighbor, turning the closest friends into the fiercest foes. Deep Down, an hour-long documentary, portrays this clash of ideology in a town torn apart by mountaintop-removal coal mining.

The educational film follows Beverly May and Terry Ratliff, lifelong friends and Maytown citizens that live on opposite sides of the mountain – and opposite sides of the strip-mining issue. When a coal company approaches Ratliff with a big check and intent to mine his property, the struggling carpenter is torn between preserving his homeland and securing financial safety. With rallies, town-hall meetings, and petitions, his friend May sets out to convince him – and, she hopes, the rest of the community – that the environmentallly destructive practice should end.

Deep Down is a good example of its genre, telling a story rather than explaining an issue. Compelling narrative dominates the documentary, complemented by sufficient scientific facts to drive home the prevailing message: Coal is dirty. This heartbreaking but ultimately heartwarming account of a small mining community weaves in humor, color, and suspense, making it well worth a look.

--Sarah A.Henderson
originally posted on The Green Life

The Deep Down team were proud to be among a group of environmental filmmakers recently gathered in Bolinas and Berkley, California to collaborate on the powerful art of storytelling as a tool to create change at the grassroots and national levels for a clean energy future.

The five day retreat, “Reel Engagement for the Energy and Natural Resource Revolution”  was sponsored by the Fledgling FundChicken and Egg Pictures, and Working Films to bring together films from around that world that collectively tell the story of extractive industries, dirty fuels, and the catastrophic impacts of global climate change while offering narratives of hope for a people-powered clean energy revolution.