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CHARLESTON, WV— Filmmakers Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle will hold the world premiere of their new film, Goodbye Gauley Mountain—An Ecosexual Love Story, in Charleston, WV. “Our film is about the controversy of mountain top removal mining, and it is also a love story about the Appalachia Mountains and the people who live in them. There are many films about MTR but none quite like ours.” Several international film festivals and major museums vied to premiere the film, but the two women wanted to premiere it in West Virginia with the people in the film, in the place where it was made, and where Beth was born. “We will even have a little red carpet for everyone to walk down.”
Stephens’ family has worked in mining since the 1600’s beginning in Cornwall, England. Born in Montgomery, she says she was raised to marry into the coal business. Instead she moved to California, became an artist and professor at University of California, Santa Cruz, and married Annie Sprinkle, an artist and a feminist adult film star with a PhD in human sexuality. They have been life partners and collaborators for twelve years.
The two women produced, directed, and star in the film together. However it is Stephens who narrates the story as part autobiography, part coal mining history, and part performance art. “As a Kanawha Valley girl I had always imagined that I would come home to these mountains to retire. Now that southern West Virginia is ground zero for mountaintop removal, the future of my homeplace is threatened.” Stephens believes “MTR must be stopped in order to ensure a future that includes clean air and water, as well as social justice. Our activist strategy is to switch the metaphor from ‘Earth as mother’ to ‘Earth as lover’ to garner more love and empathy for the mountains. It will take time, but we’ll get there.”
Goodbye Gauley Mountain has been three years in the making. This documentary introduces some surprising moments, such as a wedding to the Mountains, officiated by the late “mountain keeper” Larry Gibson. Earth First Journal’s Russ McSpadden writes, “Without compare, this is the sexiest nature documentary and one of the most profound films to deal with the beauty and tragedy of the Appalachian Mountains in the age of King Coal.”
The film makers offer, “Everyone is welcome. Our goal is to spread the word about serious environmental issues, and also to make the environmental movement a little more sexy, fun and diverse.”
Saturday, August 17th, 2013. 7 P.M.
Film runs 70 minutes, then Stephens and Sprinkle will do Q & A after the film.
Refreshments and popcorn will be served.
Contains some nudity. Mature audiences only.
Unitarian Universalist Church
520 Kanawha Boulevard West, Charleston, WV
Bring canned foods for the UU food drive.
There will be an audio loop for hearing impaired.
For more information and to view the trailer:http://goodbyegauleymountain.org/
To learn more about Stephens & Sprinkle’s work and read their Ecosex Manifesto: www.sexecology.org
Free high-resolution press photos for downloading: http://www.sexecology.org/press/press
