A Conversation on the Making of the Film, King Coal

Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Filmmaker
Sherry Harper-McCombs, Dickinson College

Following a screening of King Coal the night before (Althouse 106 @ 5 p.m.), Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon will join the Clarke Forum for an event about her 2023 film King Coal. She will reflect on her creative goals and on choosing the film’s hybrid form—a blend of vérité, poetic narration, dance, and sound design—that echoes the mythic power coal still holds over Appalachian communities.

McMillion Sheldon will discuss how nonfiction storytelling can transcend the traditional bounds of documentary to express a region’s imagination and grief. Her documentary practice included work with creative collaborators to incorporate breath art, choreography, and archival fragments which reimagine coal not as a commodity, but as a cultural force embedded in daily life, rituals, and dreams.

A short presentation of select video and audio clips from the film will be followed by a conversation with Dickinson professor emerita of theatre & dance, Sherry Harper-McCombs, and a Q&A with the audience, opening a space for dialogue around environmental storytelling, regional identity, and the ethics of nonfiction filmmaking.

This program is presented by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues. It is part of Dickinson’s Fall 2025 Energy Transition Series.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Elaine McMillion Sheldon is an Academy Award-nominated, and Emmy and Peabody-winning documentary filmmaker known for her intimate portrayals of Appalachian, rural, and Southern life. She is the director of King Coal (2023), which premiered at Sundance and was hailed by critics for its lyrical, genre-blending approach to nonfiction. Her previous films include Emmy-winning Heroin(e) (Netflix), Recovery Boys (Netflix), and Hollow, a Peabody-winning interactive documentary. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, and a USA Fellowship.