Carr, Drury Gunn and Doug Hawes-Davis. Libby, Montana. Missoula: High Plains Films, 2004. Original format: DVCAM, 116 min (83 min version also available). https://youtu.be/lJwGN-CVYLg.
In 2000, a decade after the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana closed, filmmakers Drury Gunn Carr and Doug Hawes-Davis started shooting interviews dealing with the legacy of the worst case of community-wide exposure to a toxic substance in US history. Four years later, their documentary was screened at film festivals around the world. It was the turn of international audiences to try to make sense of the intrigue surrounding the corporation that bought the mine in 1963, and the vermiculite mined there. Used in building insulation or soil conditioner, this treacherous resource was contaminated with naturally occurring asbestos. Archival clips direct from the site of the mine and the town with which it became entangled punctuate Carr and Hawes-Davis’s own footage of conversations with a range of interlocutors swept up in the mine’s legacy. EPA officials, geologists, physicians, and former mine workers all feature, as well as the public fora where interested parties engaged in debate, often emotionally charged, over what had happened. (Source: Adapated from the Official Film Website)
© 2004 High Plains Films. Trailer used with permission.
This film is available at the Rachel Carson Center Library (RCC, 4th floor, Leopoldstrasse 11a, 80802 Munich) for on-site viewing only. For more information, please contact library@rcc.lmu.de.
