Coal Bucket Outlaw (Film)

Coal Bucket Outlaw

  •  Tom Hansell
  •  2002
  • Color IconColor
  •  26:43
  •  Betacam SP video
Film Description
Coal Bucket Outlaw is a documentary that asks Americans to look at where our energy comes from at a time when coal still produced over half of our nation's electricity, and reveals the human and environmental price we pay for our national addiction to fossil fuels. Built around a day in the life of a Kentucky coal truck driver, the film brings viewers into the cab of the truck and into the lives of the people who live and work by coal haul roads for a truly wild ride. A veteran driver who owns his own truck, and a young family struggling to pay the bills guide the audience along one-lane roads, up tight hollows, onto strip mines, and around coal processing facilities, while discussion of coal’s role in providing our nation with electricity connects the lives of these truckers to the lives of everyone in America.

Screenings & Festivals
  • Museum of Modern Art
  • Louisville Film & Video Festival
  • Flooded Out Film Festival
  • Appalachian Visions, Mountain State University


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Reviews

“Someone’s got to haul the coal, and at the paltry sums per load, Kentucky truckers have got to haul ass as well. Hansell’s day-in-the-life doc links our addiction to fossil fuels to a megawatt system of national abuse … where the rubber meets the road just leads to corporate offices of power.” — Pacific Film Archives
“Candid, insightful and surprising.” — Beyond the Box, ITVS
“Compelling.” — Best of the Year in Film, Louisville Eccentric Observer