#uranium drive-in

[olearysreellife]

INSIGHTS into upcoming films at Heartland Film Festival… Suzan Beraza's documentary Uranium Drive-In poses the question: "WHO DECIDES THE FUTURE OF RURAL AMERICA?"

Description of the film from Heartland Film Festival site:

A proposed uranium mill in southwestern Colorado – the first to be built in the US in 30 years – sparks an emotional debate, pitting a population desperate for jobs and financial stability against an environmental group based in a nearby resort town. Both sides of the issue are brought to life in heart-wrenching detail with conflicting opinions and visions for the future. Offering no easy answers, the film aims to capture personal stories and paint a portrait of the lives behind this nuanced and complex issue.

Watching the film I was reminded of the story of the blind men and the elephant.  Each experienced just one aspect of the elephant and came away with a very different assessment from the others.  

Looking at the proposed uranium mill from perspectives of promised jobs, environment health, etc each person Beraza interviewed brought a distinct perspective.  What everyone seemed to have in common was a commitment to their differing but very strong feelings and beliefs about what mattered and what would make things better going forward.   There's a feeling of sorrow lingering on the edges of this documentary.  I emerged from the film with a sense that the future for that region and the people in it is very much still to be revealed.   Uranium Drive-In screens October 18, 20, 23, & 24 at Heartland Film Festival. 

Official Website: http://uraniumdrivein.com/

[boulderfilmfest]

URANIUM DRIVE-IN

Meet the director in person!

Sunday 5:15pm @ Boulder High School, 70 min

BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE

[cassiecates]

Mining for a Home.

So many people have such strong feelings concerning mining, but sometimes, feelings do not matter. A small town in Colorado was devistated when the old uranium mine was closed. Many people had to leave town. Now, when a new mining operation is proposed, they feel that there may still be a future for them. Many understand the risks of the project, but when it means being able to stay together, in their homes, the risks are at the bottom of their minds. They needs those jobs, or they will lose everything they have. When a neighboring town tries to stop the mine, ties become strained between the two communities.

The mines may have a lot of environmental impacts, but when there are not many other options, mining does not seem so bad. So few new job opportunities are presented to small towns, that anything is prefferable to nothing. It is nice and easy to hate something that does not seem as important to your community, but when it means saving your home, sometimes, that sense of dislike has to be put aside. Unless people are willing to step up and help each other, small town communities are going to unravel and disappear. It is not a matter of judging people for choosing to support the mines, but a matter of understanding why they would support them. Sometimes it is not a choice between environmentally friendly jobs and damaging jobs, but between taking a job, or losing everything.

[chadreeve13]

Mine Mine Mine

Uranium Drive-In is a documentary film that shows both sides of a debate that has been going on in a rural town in Colorado. the topic of debate is uranium mining. This rural Town has been economically devastated when a previous mining corporation left the town after many years a new corporation proposes to start uranium mining. The varying opinions of what should be done are highlighted with multiple families stories of economic and health related hardships.

This Documentary is unique in the way that in captures the debate. it neither skews the viewer one way or another. the viewer is brought on a journey with two opposing views brought to life by the towns people who need these jobs and the environmental activist who have seen the damage that has been done from uranium highlight. what this film does well is it is evenly divide to show you both sides of the argument on a social level there is no scientific information in this document it is simply an archive of the debate that has gone on in the small rural town of Colorado.

[nviveiros]

Would Uranium Starts With You?

     Taking the view point of both opponents Suzan Beraza bring us on a journey to Naturita Colorado in her film Uranium Drive-In. It is here where we are confronted by the opposing ideas concerning the installation of  Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill in  Paradox Valley.       We are introduced to a group who is against the construction of the Uranium Mill. These people focused on the dangers that would be lurking around the corner for both citizens and the environment if the Uranium Mill was constructed.       While on the other side of the ring we have the people who want the Uranium Mill to be constructed. These people are stereotypically  the people who are struggling to make ends meet.         Beraza's choice to show both sides lets her audience make their own decisions, which I really appreciated. No one likes to feel as if someone else's opinions are being shoved in their face.        For me, a student in an Environmental Communications course, this film showed me the importance of being as unbiased as possible when creating a film on a controversial topic such as this one. I would want my viewers to be allowed to create their own thoughts and opinions on topics and not have my ideas bully them into believing otherwise. 

For more information on the film Uranium Drive-In visit: www.uraniumdrivein.com/                      or http://www.watchnewspapers.com/view/full_story/22677006/article-Uranium-Drive-In--Documentary--Surprised--Filmmaker-Beraza?instance=arts%20overflow

[hartroberts]

Must-see documentary: Uranium Drive-In. If you head out of Telluride approximately 50 miles to the northwest, you’ll come to a cluster of small towns — Naturita, Paradox and the ghost-town of Uravan — which are collectively called the West End. These dusty, hardscrabble places are vastly different from comparatively plush Telluride, which has tourism to fuel its economic engine. Without such revenues in the West End, many locals there hope that a proposed uranium mill will provide the livelihood they desperately need. Given its potential health and environmental risks, however, the mill is controversial, both in the West End and in Telluride. Uranium Drive-In looks at this conundrum from both sides. Directed by Suzan Beraza, the film is different from her previous effort Bag It, which won the Audience Award at Mountainfilm in 2010. Don’t expect an exposé on nuclear power: What you will see in this haunting, elegiac piece is the story of a dying town that is given one last chance — but at what cost?

More info: http://www.uraniumdrivein.com/