Highlands Conservancy
BRINGING DOWN THE MOUNTAINS |
Bringing Down the Mountains was created in January 2006 by three high school students from Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Kaitlyn Walton, Jill Sompel and Stephanie Loughner were inspired to create the film after viewing rough footage shot by their ecology teacher of an active mountaintop removal mine near Kayford Mountain, WV. Having never seen mountaintop removal firsthand, the girls began researching the topic and editing the footage; informational help was provided by Julian Martin of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. The filmmakers were unrelenting in their resolve to complete the project despite many roadblocks, and worked furiously against a deadline to complete the film for premier at the West Virginia Energy Gathering in February 2006. It was very well received. In a recently published glowing review, Steve Fesenmeier of Graffiti says, “The script, music, visuals and most importantly, the message of the film exactly hit the bull’s eye better than any other film I have seen on the devastation caused by mountaintop removal (MTR) mining.” |