Episode #208: Coal Bucket Outlaw & Applewise

Coal Bucket Outlaw
“Someone’s got to haul the coal, and at the paltry sums per load, Kentucky truckers have got to haul ass as well. Hansell’s day-in-the-life doc links our addiction to fossil fuels to a megawatt system of national abuse – where the rubber meets the road just leads to corporate offices of power.” – Steve Seid, Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA

“Candid, insightful and surprising… “ – Beyond the Box, ITVS

Synopsis: Coal Bucket Outlaw is built around a day in the life of a Kentucky coal truck driver, the program gives Americans a direct look at where our energy comes from, and reveals the human and environmental price we pay for our national addiction to fossil fuels.

Full Description: Built around a day in the life of a Kentucky coal truck driver, Coal Bucket Outlaw looks at the people who haul the fuel that powers over 50 percent of the electricity used in this country. These working families provide an intimate glimpse into a rural America that sometimes crosses legal lines as it struggles to get by, revealing the human and environmental price we pay for our national addiction to fossil fuels. The program follows two Kentucky coal truck drivers as they chase their version of the American dream, while others in the community talk of the damage done by overweight trucks to human life and property. Facts and figures about coal as an energy source place these individual struggles in a national context. Coal Bucket Outlaw asks the question: If outlaws deliver half of our nation’s energy, are consumers and policymakers complicit?

Produced by Appalshop in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding provided by the KET Fund for Independent Production.

Website: www.appalshop.org/film/coalbucket.

Producer – Tom Hansell: Tom has worked at Appalshop since 1990, producing nationally distributed radio and video programming. Tom’s second Appalshop video, Coal Bucket Outlaw (2001), was shot entirely in digital video as part of the Independent Television Service’s Digital Initiative. Hansell’s previous documentary “The Breaks of the Mountain” looks at the future of eco-tourism in a east Kentucky community. He also co-directed “Evelyn Williams with Anne Lewis. Tom is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Telecommunications in Athens, OH, and is actively involved in local environmental issues.

Screening Highlights ** Museum of Modern Art * Louisville Film & Video Festival *
Flooded Out Film Festival, Charleston, WV * Appalachian Studies Conference

Click here for zipped package of these print quality photos.

Trucker Herbie Adams with filmmaker Tom Hansell

A Vehicle Enforcement Officer stops an overweight truck

Filming trucks for Coal Bucket Outlaw

Photos for press and private use. All rights reserved. Photos by Rhonda Simpson.

 

Applewise
“Good stuff for those who want to delve into social and cultural history.” –Darlene Wilson, Southeast Community College, Cumberland, KY

“Enjoyable!” – Roanoke, VA television viewer

Synopsis: In Applewise third generation family farmers struggle to make a living from a small orchard in an era of a global economy.

Full Description: Applewise is an insider's portrait of the Mullins family, third generation apple growers, and their struggle to maintain and manage one of only two remaining family-run apple orchards in Wise County, Virginia. The program follows the growing seasons as family members try to keep the orchard business profitable while struggling with pesticide issues and sustainability. Others look to the coal industry to strike it rich, and valuable orchards are strip mined and destroyed. The documentary explores issues of self-sustainable agriculture and sustainable land management, corporate competition, pesticide use and family unity.

A co-production of Appalshop with WBRA/Roanoke in association with NETA and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding provided by the KET Fund for Independent Production.

Producer – Anthony Slone: Born and raised in Hollybush in Knott County, KY, Anthony joined Appalshop as a film student in 1973. He now makes his home in southwestern Virginia where he filmed Applewise (1997) as well as the Headwaters #100 episode on the legendary Carter Family, Sunny Side of Life. Homemade Tales, a portrait of Anthony’s mother, was also featured in the first Headwaters series.