{"id":107091,"date":"2016-01-21T20:04:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T03:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silverton-filmmaker-focuses-on-animas-river-cleanup\/"},"modified":"2016-01-21T20:04:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T03:04:51","slug":"silverton-filmmaker-focuses-on-animas-river-cleanup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silverton-filmmaker-focuses-on-animas-river-cleanup\/","title":{"rendered":"Silverton filmmaker focuses on Animas River cleanup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image naviga-align-left alignleft\" data-naviga-align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=1984c9bb-b403-4ea4-888e-3c84ae610443&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=1984c9bb-b403-4ea4-888e-3c84ae610443&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=800 800w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=1984c9bb-b403-4ea4-888e-3c84ae610443&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=1984c9bb-b403-4ea4-888e-3c84ae610443&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1800 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 2000px\" width=\"390\" height=\"581\" alt=\"Schillaci\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Schillaci<\/span><span class=\"credit\">du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XkjFdgshv1Y\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/p><p>What\u2019s become as much of a fixture at Animas River Stakeholders Group meetings as discussions of mine cleanup and deteriorating water quality, is filmmaker Tom Schillaci capturing it all on camera the past 15 years.<\/p>\n<p>Schillaci, who lives in Silverton, was working on a documentary about mine remediation in the Animas River Basin, called \u201cAcid Mine Nation,\u201d when the Gold King Mine blew out on Aug. 5.<\/p>\n<p>The filmmaker, who typically remains silent behind the lens at stakeholders group meetings, saw relatively technical and dry meetings turn into a media frenzy and public spectacle in the days after the EPA triggered the release of 3 million gallons of mine wastewater.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was heart-broken at the Gold King spill because I could see all the positive work done over the years erased because public perception is public reality,\u201d he said. \u201cThey saw a yellow river, and it freaked them out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schillaci\u2019s involvement with mine cleanup in the Animas watershed began in 2001, after he was laid off from Janus Mutual Funds in Denver. He saw an article in The Denver Post about former Fort Lewis College professor Rob Blair, who wanted to start The Center for Mountain Studies. Schillaci contacted Blair, offering his digital photography and videography skills.<\/p>\n<p>The geoscience professor pointed Schillaci to the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, where he was \u201cblown away\u201d not just by the environmental films but also being in the same room with explorers, anthropologists, educators and geologists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI returned to Denver on Monday, bought a video camera on Wednesday, and was in Silverton on Friday shooting my first video covering the ARSG cleanup event,\u201d Schillaci said.<\/p>\n<p>With almost 15 years of footage, Schillaci said viewers of \u201cAcid Mine Nation\u201d will see the increasing pressure by the Environmental Protection Agency on San Juan County and the town of Silverton to pursue a Superfund status.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGold King really changed the playing field,\u201d he said. \u201cThe county commissioners were already on a trajectory to learn more about Superfund, but this event that prompted an emergency response really put the icing on the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schillaci will spend the next three months editing, and hopes to premiere the film in the summer. He\u2019s released shorter documentaries over the years, but \u201cAcid Mine Nation\u201d will be his first 30- to 45-minute full-length movie.<\/p>\n<p>But first, he\u2019s asking for members of the community to voice their opinion on the spill and the after-effects on camera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to know, what do they think?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>More than anything, Schillaci said he\u2019d like to see his film be of use to other communities dealing with a legacy of hard-rock mining industries, and the cleanup that comes with it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has always been a shared goal to improve water quality downstream from Silverton, but there\u2019s been no agreement how to get there,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ll see. The story is far from over.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:jromeo@durangoherald.com\">jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-scoreboard\">\n<h4 class=\"scoreboard-title\">Add your voice<\/h4>\n<p>If you want to be interviewed for \u201cAcid Mine Nation,\u201d call Tom Schillaci at 946-9676.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>residents to speak up about spill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5961,5843],"tags":[304,13,167,303],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-107091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-entertainment","category-living","tag-animas-river","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-local-news-lead","tag-water-pollution"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107091"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=107091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}