WV Premiere of Blood on the Mountain Tuesday at WVU

Info from a Blood on the Mountain News Advisory:

WHAT: West Virginia University premiere of documentary film Blood On The Mountain as the kickoff for the West Virginia University Community Human Rights Film Festival

WHEN: Tuesday, February 2, 2016
7:00 p.m. Film starts, discussion panel follows screening
(runtime: 93 minutes).

WHERE: Gluck Theatre, WVU Mountainlair, 1550 University Avenue, Morgantown, WV, 26501

WHO: Blood On The Mountain Director Mari-Lynn Evans and Discussion Panelists:
Bruce Stanley, WV native and lawyer who waged a 15-year battle against Don Blankenship & Massey Energy
Patrick McGinley, WVU Charles H Haden II Professor of Law
Maria Gunnoe, 20-year community organizer in southern WV, 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner
Bill Price, Senior Organizing Representative, Appalachian Region, Sierra Club Beyond Coal to Clean Energy Campaign
Jen-Osha Buysse, Aurora Lights co-founder and Director, Mountain Stewardship & Outdoor Leadership School

The WVU Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will host the West Virginia premiere of Blood On The Mountain. This event celebrates the release of the extraordinary new documentary feature film from Evening Star Productions. This film also is the kick off for the annual West Virginia University Community Human Rights Film Festival. The screening is co-sponsored by the WVU Office of Multicultural Programs, Sierra Club and its WV Chapter and Aurora Lights.

From the Producers of The Appalachians and Coal Country, Blood On The Mountain is a searing investigation into the economic and environmental injustices that have resulted from corporate control in West Virginia, and their ripple effect on American workers.

The film details the struggles of a hard-working, misunderstood people, who have historically faced limited choices and have never benefited fairly from the rich, natural resources of their land. Blood On The Mountain presents a striking portrait of a fractured population, exploited and besieged by corporate interests and abandoned by the powers elected to represent them.

The fillm serves as a bridge fostering collaboration on a grand scale between many working partners fighting for the rights of Appalachians, the protection of our natural resources, the environment and all American workers. These struggles must be fought over and over again with the understanding that complacency leads to exploitation and that we must ever be on guard to protect those rights.

Blood On The Mountain arrives at a critical moment in history, when coal reserves and jobs are in decline and state and federal policymakers are deciding the fate of this region, tasked with charting the way forward to a sustainable economic future. Appalachians, miners and their families cannot wait any longer for the fairness they deserve; it is the duty of all who are engaged in these efforts to work together and see to it that the American public helps make this happen for them.

The WVU Community Human Rights Film Festival runs from February 2 through March 8. All films will be screened in the Gluck Theatre and are free and open to the public. For more information on the film festival, contact Ed Cole with WVU’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Contact info: ecole@mail.wvu.edu, 304-293-4750.