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Unearthed

  • Unearthed
Genre : Drama
Type : Documentary
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Format : Feature
Running time : 90 (in minutes)
http://www.un-earthed.com/

A young South African woman swallows her optimism on fracking in her impoverished Karoo home district after a mysterious phone call from the US leads her to uncover the hidden truths of the shale gas industry.

A young South African journalist, Jolynn Minnaar, stumbles across fracking when companies announce plans to drill in the Karoo, a poor, rural semi-arid area where her parents still farm. Here, many worry about threats to the scarce water supplies but Jolynn is reassured by Shell that fracking has never been linked to contamination. She remains optimistic about what gas drilling could do to alleviate poverty and ease the energy crisis. When about to abandon her sideline investigation, she receives a phone call from Pennsylvania: a young man reveals that Shell has been drilling on a neighboring farm and has left their property contaminated. Jolynn grabs her camera and leaves for the United States, the home of the new fracking technology, in search of answers. Upon arriving, her lead is nowhere to be found: his home is abandoned and industry trucks are parked all over his property.

Desperate for answers, she continues tracing the gas industry through North America. She finds communities suffering with contaminated water and air, workers with chemical exposure and turncoat scientists presenting damning evidence contrary to the promised made by glitzy oil and gas commercials. Her devastating discovery is learning that her lead is lost along with countless impacted families who have become invisible statistics after being forced into gag orders - a tactic which allows the industry to keep its record clean. Bearing the weight of her findings, Jolynn returns home. With her government and many others about to authorize gas drilling, she is far from the happy-go-lucky girl from before. Desperate to set the record straight, she sits down and tells her story.

Fracking, a controversial gas extraction process, is threatening the town in which director/ producer Jolynn Minnaar grew up. Although previously optimistic about what shale gas could do to alleviate poverty and ease the national energy crisis, an anonymous call leads the 24-year-old South African to dig further, unearthing deadly findings.

Director: Jolynn Minnaar

Country: South Africa

Producer: Dylan Voogt
Co-producer: Stacey Keppler
Company: Stage 5 Films



Dubbed "the next generation Erin Brokovich", Jolynn Minnaar has presented her findings at conferences locally and abroad. She graduated with a distinction from UCT with a triple major BA degree in Film, Media and Media Production. Dylan is a member of the South African Independent Producers Organization and was recently invited to be part of the 2013 Berlinale Talent Campus.


Unearthed, an independent South African feature documentary, investigates fracking in the United States - the technology's place of origin - in order to understand what this new method of gas extraction could mean for the semi-arid Karoo and other countries who are considering its implementation.

Director: Jolynn Minnaar
Producers: Dylan Voogt, Stacey Keppler, Saskia Schiel
Cinematography: Jolynn Minnaar
Editor: Daniel Mitchell
Sound Mix: Morne Marais
Music: Nick Marcus

TITLE: Unearthed
TAGLINE: The deeper the dig, the darker the secrets.
GENRE: Investigative Documentary
FORMAT: HD
RUNNING TIME: 90 MIN
LANGUAGE: English, Afrikaans with English Subtitles
LOCATION: South Africa, United States of America, Canada
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: South Africa
YEAR OF COMPLETION: 2014

DIRECTOR: Jolynn Minnaar
PRODUCERS: Dylan Voogt (Stage 5 Films)
Stacey Keppler (Zootee Studios)
Saskia Schiel (Stage 5 Films)
Official Selection 2014:
Sheffield Documentary International Festival
Encounters Documentary International Festival
Durban International Film Festival

Sales/Screening Contact
Chris Nicklin
Head of Factuals
Sabido Productions
CNicklin@sabidoproductions.co.za +27 21 481 4417

www.un-earthed.com
www.facebook.com/uneartheddocumentary
www.twitter.com/un_earthed

See more at:
http://britdoc.org/real_films/britdoc-bertha-awards/unearthed

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