Central Appalachia is a place of mountains and myth. Director Elaine McMillion Sheldon knows this
well, calling those mountains home. Coal has had a profound influence on this community’s identity,
but Sheldon dares to consider what future stories might look like out of the shadow of coal, now that
relationships to coal are changing. She takes us on an alluring cinematic journey through the past,
present, and future of Appalachia.
Sheldon’s distinct vision remixes present-day moments of life in a coal-mining town with archival
footage and atmospheric invocations of the land to alchemize something new — a rare, nuanced
depiction of this community. A young girl learning the story of coal anchors the journey while
Sheldon’s poetic voiceover guides us through the experience and an expressive score differentiates
the reality of coal from a more imaginative world. The hybrid approach allows Sheldon to explore the
act of storytelling itself and is a magical reclamation of the power of stories to shape how a region
sees itself. The end of one story welcomes the beginning of another.