Mode of Program Participation
Performances and Arts
Participation Type
Film
Presentation #1 Title
Cheshire, Ohio: An American Coal Story in 3 Acts
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
A gun toting 83-year old woman refuses to sell her house to the power plant next door. But despite her refusal, the plant has moved ahead with their 20 million dollar deal to buy out most of Cheshire and bulldoze all the homes. What happened in this Ohio River town overrun by one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the world? A story of money, power and the increasingly difficult choices we face surrounding coal and the environment, Cheshire, Ohio makes us think twice about home. Filmed over a decade, Cheshire, Ohio follows a community devastated by coal, starting with American Electric Power's buyout and bulldozing of this Ohio River town after exposing them to years of harmful emissions, and then returning several years later to the now almost emptied town as we follow the case of 77 plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit against American Electric Power for cancer and other diseases they developed from working unprotected at the plant's coal ash landfill site. As the cycle of pollution from coal continues, we see how one town suffers from our reliance on carbon energy. The story is told by the people whose lives are most intimately affected and who are great characters and storytellers: from the 93 year old Gladys Rife who accepted the buyout but is allowed to stay until she dies; to Boots Hern, the gun toting widow who won’t sell out her home to the plant; to the Cochrans who mourn the loss of the town as they accept the buyout and move; to the young family who moved in recently for work but whose daughter suffers from asthma from living across from the plan; to Iva Sissen, a worker at the plant who is fighting ovarian cancer she believes was caused from unsafe exposure to the coal ash. These voices and others paint a complex and layered story of a quintessential American town in Appalachia devastated by this industry in a state that is considered a battleground in the “war on coal.” The film is 75 minutes in length. I can screen from a high resolution digital file or from a BLU RAY DVD.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Eve Morgenstern, has been producing non-fiction programming for over a decade for award winning films that have aired on PBS and have screened at major festivals. Eve is also photographer who has been awarded artist residencies at The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and at The MacDowell Colony. Her recent photographic project Facades of Crises had its Museum premiere at Bildmuseet in Umeå, Sweden.
Cheshire, Ohio: An American Coal Story in 3 Acts
A gun toting 83-year old woman refuses to sell her house to the power plant next door. But despite her refusal, the plant has moved ahead with their 20 million dollar deal to buy out most of Cheshire and bulldoze all the homes. What happened in this Ohio River town overrun by one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the world? A story of money, power and the increasingly difficult choices we face surrounding coal and the environment, Cheshire, Ohio makes us think twice about home. Filmed over a decade, Cheshire, Ohio follows a community devastated by coal, starting with American Electric Power's buyout and bulldozing of this Ohio River town after exposing them to years of harmful emissions, and then returning several years later to the now almost emptied town as we follow the case of 77 plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit against American Electric Power for cancer and other diseases they developed from working unprotected at the plant's coal ash landfill site. As the cycle of pollution from coal continues, we see how one town suffers from our reliance on carbon energy. The story is told by the people whose lives are most intimately affected and who are great characters and storytellers: from the 93 year old Gladys Rife who accepted the buyout but is allowed to stay until she dies; to Boots Hern, the gun toting widow who won’t sell out her home to the plant; to the Cochrans who mourn the loss of the town as they accept the buyout and move; to the young family who moved in recently for work but whose daughter suffers from asthma from living across from the plan; to Iva Sissen, a worker at the plant who is fighting ovarian cancer she believes was caused from unsafe exposure to the coal ash. These voices and others paint a complex and layered story of a quintessential American town in Appalachia devastated by this industry in a state that is considered a battleground in the “war on coal.” The film is 75 minutes in length. I can screen from a high resolution digital file or from a BLU RAY DVD.
