Behind the Lens: King Coal

This is a story about how coal has permeated our lives through culture, through belonging, through the ways we gather.

And we actually have to now, as a community, reinvent the way we gather and the way we belong.

Appalachia is a place that is predominantly documented by people that see our problems.

And so I wanted to show Appalachia in a way that showed it as lush and alive and not impoverished and deficient.

The hybrid documentary form is something that really fascinates me because it can allow us to get to truths and play with realities that don't exist yet but might in the future.

King Coal in this film is not a stand in for the industry or a politician.

Its this film is very influenced by fables and ballads and myths and folklore from Appalachian storytelling thats existed throughout the years.

While there are fictional strategies used to tell the story, it's all quite real.

My truth as a coal miner's daughter, as someone who grew up in a coal mining family is a shared truth.

It's my community's truth and it's an anxiety we feel about what's next.

And I hope that this film can provide hope and can provide a space to have a new conversation about our lives beyond coal.