Laborfest: Films on Coal Mining in the USA

Mine War On Blackberry Creek (28:30) (1986)
By Anne Lewis
Mine War on Blackberry Creek reports on the long and bitter United Mine Workers of America strike in 1984 against A.T. Massey, America’s fourth largest coal company with corporate ties to apartheid South Africa. While strikebreakers work inside the mines and security men with guard dogs and cameras patrol the compound, miners on the picket lines detail the history of labor struggles in the region and their determination to hold out until victory. http://www.annelewis.org

Coal Country (85 min.) (2009)
By Phyllis Geller
Passions are running high in the mountains of Appalachia. Families and communities are deeply split over what is being done to their land by the latest form of strip mining called mountaintop removal, or MTR. Coal companies blast the tops off mountains and run the debris into valleys and streams, filling air and water with chemicals, and an ancient mountain range is disappearing forever. The communities are destroyed by coal companies including Massey Energy that are anti-labor and only interested in getting profits from the coal despite the costs to the community. Link to website for the Coal Country movie.
http://www.coalcountrythemovie.com/
See also:
http://www.laborfest.net/2010/Films.htm
http://www.laborfest.net/2010/2010schedule.htm