Documenting Appalachia

Filmmakers Discuss Their Work in the Region By Elizabeth E. Payne It has been almost forty years since “Harlan County, USA” (1976) brought attention to the miners’ strike at the Brookside Mine in southeast Kentucky. Since then, dozens of films, including “Justice in the Coalfields” (1995), “Sludge” (2005) and “The Last Mountain” (2011), have explored…

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Ralph Davis: Exploring Appalachia’s Future

By Nolen Nychay In his 21 years of journalistic work at publications such as the Jackson County Sun, Paintsville Herald and Floyd County Times, Ralph Davis developed a close relationship with the small communities of eastern Kentucky and the rural lifestyle the region prides itself on. When Davis began work on his master’s thesis in…

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Appalachian Documentaries

By Theresa L. Burris Residents of Appalachia have encountered prejudice through all types of media, some based on stereotypes of coal mining society. Fortunately, conscientious documentarians have surfaced over the years. They counter negative images of the region and examine the humanitarian struggles that come from the nation’s fossil fuel dependency and its inevitable consequences…

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Grassroots Filmmaking in Appalachia

By Tom Hansell Amazing documentaries come from the Appalachian region. From the Academy Award-winning Harlan County, U.S.A. to the recent premiere of The Last Mountain at the Sundance Film Festival, these mountains are full of compelling stories that have attracted documentary filmmakers from across the world. A great source of homegrown documentaries from the Appalachian…

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