Hard Coal: Last of the Bootleg Miners (screener copy)

Directed by Marc Brodzik and Produced by Woodshop Films. US. 81 mins.

Filmed from 2004-2008, completed in 2009.

The discovery of anthracite, or hard coal, in northeastern Pennsylvania more than 200 years ago resulted in hundreds of corporate mines in this eleven county area throughout the early 20th century. Although anthracite coal makes up only 2 percent of all the coal reserves in the United States, the area boasts more than 7.3 billion tons of this clean burning coal in a very concentrated geography.

In the mid 1800s, there were hundreds of active mines with more than 17,000 coal miners- mostly poor immigrants- toiling in them for twelve hours daily. The corporations had little concern with the health of the workers, and it was extremely dangerous work, with frequent accidents and few safety measures. Miners were burned in gas explosions, crushed by tunnel collapses and run over by mine cars. If they survived the job, many miners suffered the slow and painful suffocation called black lung, caused by continual exposure to coal dust.

Today, only 6 anthracite mines are left in Pennsylvania, down from 60 in 1995 and more than 140 a decade earlier. These remaining mines are worked by "bootleg" miners- typically independent, family-centric teams struggling to carry on the family tradition and support their families, working in mines they may have dug themselves.

This film will bring you face-to-face with the proud, persevering individuals facing these challenges. Share their frustration with the current system and their fear of losing dignity, independence and the only means of survival they know.

Видео Hard Coal: Last of the Bootleg Miners (screener copy) канала Scrapple TV