Award-winning doc about the ecological poisoning caused by ‘fracking’, the mining of ‘clean’ natural gas. “You haven’t experienced environmental dread until you’ve seen tap water catch fire.” — Now
You haven't experienced environmental dread until you've seen tap water catch fire.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2010
GasLand 2010
Though its subject – the environmental chaos caused by the mining of ‘clean’ natural gas – demands attention in itself, the special power of this film is its hand-made, first-person demonstration of empowerment through knowledge. When New York theatre director Josh Fox received a cash offer for the gas rights on his Pennsylvania acreage, he decided to check out the experiences of people elsewhere who’d accepted. The more stories he heard, the more he needed to pick up a camera and make this deeply alarming film. — BG.
“Josh Fox’s exploration of the ecological toll of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ – the process of driving toxic chemicals into the earth to mine underground deposits of natural gas, which inevitably contaminates the area – is a chilling look at yet another unpleasant legacy of the Bush-Cheney years, when the safety of any given act placed a distant second to its profitability. Matthew Sanchez’s whip-smart editing gives Fox’s discoveries an additional layer of sophistication and urgency.” — Norman Wilner, Now
“One of the most interesting and harrowing documentaries of recent years... Tragic, empowering and beautiful.” — Ian Harris, Salient