Coal Seam Gas in the Pilliga

Dean Sewell has been covering the campaign to stop a proposed coal seam gas field in the Pilliga Forest, NSW, the largest inland forest left in Eastern Australia. This campaign is a collaboration between people from all backgrounds and ages, an very strong support of the local farming community. Both Dean and Derek Pascoe from ReRu have visited the area, capturing video and still coverage of the protests and confrontations.

During the campaign ReRu has  distributed the stills and footage to international media as well as supporting the campaign of the Wilderness Society, the farmers and traditional owners with our resources. Part of this was donating the footage to aid a film produced by the Wilderness Society called “Nature Needs You”, a 9-minute documentary film about five remarkable local leaders standing their ground to protect their communities from the fossil fuel industry. Over the past two years the film has won awards and gained honourable mentions in many different film festivals globally. The list of awards includes:

Awards:
2015 Winner: Best Cinematography @ Climate Change International Film Festival (Oregon, USA)
2015 Winner: Best Film – Music @ Climate Change International Film Festival (Oregon, USA)
2015 Runner Up: Best In Festival @ Climate Change International Film Festival (Oregon, USA)
2015 Peoples Choice: Top 5 @ Environmental Film Festival Australia (Melbourne, AUS)

Recognitions:
2016 Social Impact Media Awards SIMA (Los Angeles, USA)
Finalist – 10 films chosen in the Impact Film category

2015 Climate Change International Film Festival (Oregon, USA)
Honorable Mention: Advocacy
Honorable Mention: Documentary
Honorable Mention: Educational
Honorable Mention: Hope
Honorable Mention: Water

Distribution:
2016 Social Impact Cinema For The Classroom – 60+ of the best short format documentaries from SIMA

Official Selections:
2016 42nd IFF Ekotopfilm – Envirofilm, 16-20 May (Bratislava, SVK) 110 films chosen, 400+ entries, 25 countries
2016 1st Les Bois Film Festival, 5th Mar (Boise, Idaho, USA) 16 films chosen, 667 entries, 7 countries
2016 4th Social Impact Media Awards SIMA, 9th Feb (L.A., USA) 35 films chosen, 255 entries, 96 countries
2015 6th International Green Culture Festival 18th-20th Nov (Belgrade, SRB) 96 films, 695 entries, 89 countries
2015 1st Climate Change International Film Festival, 2nd Oct (Oregon, USA) 8 films, 104 entries, 42 countries
2015 6th Environmental Film Festival Australia, 3rd-10th Sep (Melbourne, AUS) 46 films chosen to screen
2015 4th Earth Port Film Festival,12 April (Massachusetts, USA) 8 films chosen to screen