Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 22:
FROM THE ASHES
Director:
Michael Bonfiglio
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Washington DC Environmental
About:
An exploration of the coal industry’s past, present, and likely future.
Putting the lie to the rhetoric that the Obama administration somehow waged a “war on coal” to cripple the mining industry, this conventional but effective film instead convincingly demonstrates the realities behind the continuing decline of coal use and the shuttering of mines, locating both primarily in the explosion of cheap natural gas, rather than regulatory attempts. Bonfiglio traces the history of America’s usage of coal, the industry’s major role in contributing to serious environmental and health concerns, and the global social and economic changes that have resulted in its being phased out. Miners and their families, facing a lack of development of other industries thanks to the lobbying power of the mining industry, are caught between unrealistic promises of the current administration to revitalize a moribund industry, and losing what little they have, unless they are able to transition, as some are shown here, to a growing renewable energies industry.
