The arguments for and against wind turbine power rage through a small rural community in this illuminating saga. “An absorbing, sobering documentary about the lures and perils of green technology.” — The Washington Post
Excellent... as much a study of a small rural community torn asunder as it is of the pros and cons of the massive turbines.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2011
Windfall 2010
You don’t have to look far to see wind turbine power trumpeted as the clean, green energy solution. Around the world, energy companies are encouraged by government subsidies to invest in wind power. The arguments against this scenario rage through a small upstate New York community in this tense, illuminating saga. Land-holding farmers feeling the pinch welcome the cash offered by power companies to erect windmills on their properties. But townies, many of them lifestyle refugees from the city, aren’t so sure they want to live in the shadows of 130-metre towers with seven-ton blades spinning at 150 miles per hour. The environmental impact is undeniable: the strobing, the incessant noise, the destruction of bird life. Filmmaker Laura Israel watches the opposing groups fight it out at local council level as alternative energy becomes the community’s defining political issue. Their increasingly acrimonious struggle is a textbook microcosm of the nexus of money, politics and misinformation determining all our energy choices. — BG