There are passionate and well-meaning people arrayed all around the issues surrounding America?s enormous shale-gas resource and the communities on the surface above it. I?ve met landowners and residents and scientists in Pennsylvania and upstate New York with powerfully articulated positions against and for drilling using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
And then there are the filmmakers. First there was Josh Fox, who rose to prominence in 2010 with ?Gasland,? a potent attack on fracking, and who unveiled ?Gasland Part Two? at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday (read an IndieWire interview and film review).
This year saw ?Frack Nation,? a rebuttal to ?Gasland? from Phelim McAleer, a provocative filmmaker with a libertarian bent who shares Fox?s penchant for stunts and histrionics. (For an example, see McAleer?s hijacking of a question-and-answer session with former Vice President Al Gore at a 2009 journalism conference.)
At the premiere of Fox?s antifracking sequel on Sunday, a batch of ticket holders ? mostly landowners from the Marcellus shale region who support gas drilling, but including McAleer ? was blocked from entering the theater (see the Artsbeat blog post for Tribeca?s dubious explanation).
I feel bad for the blocked residents of the country?s gas lands. Here?s video shot by McAleer of the excluded attendees complaining to security.
I?d like to think that there might have been a chance for an open discussion of the economic and environmental realities in shale-gas country if the tickets had been honored. A set of YouTube videos of the question session after the screening (1, 2, 3) depicts a big group hug, in essence, between the audience and film team.
But given McAleer?s track record, the chances for a productive conversation if the pro-fracking group had been allowed in were low.
Still, proper ground rules for post-screening discussions could have limited the chances of disruption and allowed at least a taste of the real divisions in such regions as residents (and elected officials) consider a diverse set of risks and opportunities.
The two films at least provide a great teachable pairing for my communication students at Pace University.
There?s more from me in my Tumblr post Monday.
Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/in-frackin-fight-opposites-attract/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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