News from High Plains Films - July 20, 2008

LIBBY, MONTANA Nominated for National News & Documentary Emmy® Award

LIBBY, MONTANA, which was broadcast nationally in 2007 on the PBS Series, POV/The American Documentary, has received an Emmy nomination in the category, "Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story – Long Form." The nominees were announced on July 15 by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). Four other television documentaries (including two more from POV) are nominated in the category. The News and Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented on Monday, Sept. 22 at a ceremony in Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York’s Time Warner Center.

P.O.V., public television's premier showcase for independent point-of-view films, received six total nominations in the 29th Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards. "P.O.V. celebrated its 20th season on PBS last year with a diverse slate of films by established and emerging filmmakers,” said Simon Kilmurry, P.O.V.'s Executive Director. "From the struggles of refugees, immigrants and working Americans to stories of personal transformations, the nominated films introduce us to people whose lives, we hope, will enrich our own.”

About LIBBY, MONTANA:
Produced, Directed & Edited by Drury Gunn Carr & Doug Hawes-Davis

Nestled below the rugged peaks of the Northern Rockies in Montana—as iconic a representation of America’s “purple mountain majesties” as one can find—lies the worst case of community-wide exposure to a toxic substance in U.S. history. In the small town of Libby, many hundreds of people are sick or have already died from asbestos exposure. Libby, Montana takes a long working day’s journey into a blue-collar community, and finds a different reality—one where the American Dream exacts a terrible price.

"If the political pressure to prosecute Grace's executives to the full extent of the law persists, it will be due in part to this deeply moving film. At its root is the recognition that LIBBY, MONTANA isn't a red-state or blue-state story. It is a story about American democracy and American capitalism, and the battle that must constantly be waged to keep the latter from consuming the former." San Antonio Current

"As the patient, perceptive LIBBY, MONTANA opens, the town seems set off in a nostalgic haze, a natural splendor indicated by snowy vistas, gamboling dogs, and big blue skies. Though it tracks a horrific and extended saga, LIBBY, MONTANA maintains a sense of intimacy...with focus on diurnal details and conceptual ambiguities, probing questions rather than reductionist oppositions of good and evil." PopMatters.com

"Equal parts mystery, horror film, black comedy, corporate indictment and human tragedy Libby, Montana is expertly compiled and genuinely compassionate when addressing the people involved. The film pulsates with urgency and commitment, and manages splendidly without the abrasive finger-pointing and knee-jerk aggression that has marred reportage in our age of so-called reality television." flickhead.com

Contact:
Cynthia López, Cathy Fisher or Karen Reynolds at P.O.V.: 212-989-7425, clopez@pov.org, cfisher@pov.org or kreynolds@pov.org for interviews with the filmmakers and more information about the issues explored in their films.

Official LIBBY, MONTANA web sites:
http://www.highplainsfilms.org/fp_libby.html
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/libbymontana/index.html

More information on the News and Documentary Emmy® Awards:
http://www.emmyonline.tv/mediacenter/news_29th_nominations.html