(Plus a Cartoonishly Failed Attempt at Distraction)
UPDATE [4.23.13]: Excellent interviews and reviews, pouring in:
Fight Against Fracking: ‘The battle in New York has inspired people all over the world to keep fighting’ by Katie Van Syckle, Rolling Stone.
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Josh Fox’s ‘Gasland’ Sequel Opens, a Tour Through a Land of Abandoned Homes and Broken Promises Gasland Part II contends that an industry should not be allowed to break what it cannot fix by Alison Rose Levy, Alternet, published in partnership with GlobalPossibilities.org
[ORIGINAL POST]
Yesterday was the long awaited premier of Josh Fox’s new documentary, Gasland Part II at The Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Can’t. Wait. To. See. It. Some initial tweets about the film, shared by Marcellus Protest and fans:
“Gasland 2 is an essential and worthy follow up to the original. More emotional and just as disturbing.”
“Congratulations to Josh Fox on inspiring premiere of your powerful & timely new film at Tribeca.”
“Part 2 just premiered at Tribeca Film Fest NYC. An absolute must see on fracking, govt, corps. + We, the people.”
“Still choked up by Gasland Part 2. Even more powerful, urgent + compelling than first one.”
Until the new documentary comes to Philadelphia, and it will, I’ll have to content myself with these videos of the Q&A Session that followed the screening, published by sailorsmoon9:
Gasland II Premiere at Tribeca Film Fest Q&A
Gasland II Premiere at Tribeca Film Fest Q&A 2
Gasland II Premiere at Tribeca Film Fest Q&A 3
And, there’s always this clip from 2012 in which Fox is interviewed about the making of Gasland 2 – a sort of unofficial trailer:
Gasland’s Josh Fox on Dimock, Fracking, and His Arrest
Interestingly, Indiewire’s Eric Kohn appears to have been overwhelmed, offering only tepid praise in Tribeca Review: ‘Gasland’ Gets a Sequel, But Does It Offer Anything New? Looking At ‘Gasland Part II’:
“The pileup of examples is unsettling, exhausting and not always cohesive, though Fox certainly makes a good case against the future perils of fracking around the world: A study shows that some 50% of oil and gas well are likely to leak their damaging chemicals into water supplies over the course of three decades. Even the supposedly valiant efforts of the Environment Protection Agency to monitor fracking has been stymied by the influence of oil companies on how their sites are monitored, as one revealing phone call to Fox makes clear.”
Kohn does, however, point to one of the film’s most powerful themes, the one that keeps anti-fracking activists up at night: “In this David versus Goliath tale, Goliath still has the upper hand.”
Pass the organic, non-GMO popcorn, please.
Bullies Denied
Clearly, I’m not the only one who’s eager to see Gasland Part II.
If you were lucky enough to have a ticket to Tribeca, then I hope you arrived early to the 3:30pm screening because as every liberal film-fest attendee knows, once the house is full, that’s it. It’s unsafe to allow any more people into the theater. And you know how we liberals love regulations and safety codes.
Tribeca Film Festival spokesperson Tammie Rosen released this statement regarding the screening:
“Gasland Part II had its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Guests that had purchased advance tickets and were in line for the film 30 minutes prior, as our ticket policy states, were admitted into the screening. Once the house was at capacity, the remaining ticket holders who had not been in line prior to 30 minutes were unfortunately not able to be accommodated in the theater.” via Marcellus Drilling News
Nevertheless, liberals must be to blame for an infamous industry propagandist and a group of Pennsylvania farmers pitching a hissyfit over being denied entrance, despite the fact there were no more seats, and never mind that one of them made the previous declaration that he planned to “clash with Fox” at the screening. Much as these frackers would like to have to disrupted the premier, it amounted to little more than a sideshow publicity stunt.
I have to agree with Marcellus Protest: “Some frack shills tried to get into the Gasland 2 premiere last night, they were escorted out by security. Not going to mention their names b/c they’re fame whores who typically troll & slander grassroots activists in Marcellustan.”
And I’m amused by @GFLakeGasWatch, who tweeted: “So he and others went there to act like zoo monkeys and fling poo. Not Fearless, just Obnoxious.”
Naturally, Breitbart “News” and Marcellus Drilling News have been salivating over this FoxNews item all morning. I probably shouldn’t, but I can’t help but share the link to the footage because it’s so hilarious, and I agree with Jade lawless who commented, “I wish I could like this more than once.”
Like street thugs crashing the school dance, gas propagandists demand entrance to a packed NYC theater and, I admit, my first thought was maybe they should have let them in? But then again, you can’t be too careful. This industry harms people every day. Obviously, Tribeca Film Festival organizers consider the safety of attendees a top priority.
You know you’re curious, so here you go. Just be prepared to cringe for 47 seconds: Farmers & Filmmakers Barred from Gasland 2 Screening
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UPDATE [4.22.13]: Please read more about the gas industry’s elaborate attempts to take down Fox’s new film in Josh Fox’s Gasland Part II Faces Aggressive Oil and Gas Public Relations Campaign, by Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog.
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Keep Tap Water Safe 
April 22, 2013 at 3:12 pm |
yea! you go Josh!