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Thomas S. Hansell
Born	1968 Tacoma, WA
Nationality	United States
Education	1990 B.A. Ohio University 2011 M.F.A. Goddard College
Known for	documentary film, community-based art
Notable work	After Coal
Website	https://thansell.net

Thomas S. Hansell (born 1968) is a filmmaker, author, and artist best known for multidisciplinary work that examines the impact of fossil fuel extraction in Appalachia, through a mix of film, books, and community engagement projects. His body of work includes a trilogy of documentary films highlighting the fight for environmental and economic justice in the Appalachian coalfields: Coal Bucket Outlaw (2002), The Electricity Fairy (2011) and After Coal (2016).  His experimental films Water Cycle (2018) and Does Water Die? (2019) have screened festivals across the U.S., including the Ann Arbor and Indie Grits Film Festivals.

Early Life and Education

Hansell grew up in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio and went to Centerville High School, where he graduated from a vocational radio program. He earned a Bachelor’s in Communication (radio / tv) from Ohio University’s School of Telecommunications in 1990. As a student he worked with classmate Sxip Shirey on soundtracks of documentary films. Now an award-winning composer, Shirey also contributed to the soundtrack of Hansell’s documentary, The Electricity Fairy. Hansell received his MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College in 2011.

Career

Hansell began his career working as a production assistant for Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar. In 1990, Hansell started working at the Appalshop media arts center in Whitesburg, Kentucky.

While at Appalshop, he became engaged in interdisciplinary community media work, learning how to combine participatory activities such as story circles with community radio, documentary film and public forums. He assisted on productions including Stranger with a Camera, The Ralph Stanley Story, Evelyn Williams and Girls’ Hoops.  After producing award winning public affairs programming reports, Hansell started directing films at Appalshop, including The Breaks of the Mountain, Coal Bucket Outlaw, and The Electricity Fairy.

Hansell started teaching at Appalachian State University in 2008, where he continued to use media to engage communities.  In 2011, he began the After Coal project, which resulted in a feature length documentary film, a book, and a series of community forums. Hansell is currently faculty for the graduate program in Appalachian Studies and co-director of University Documentary Film Services at Appalachian State University.

Filmography

Benthic Salvage (2020)

Does Water Die (2019, with Joshua White)

Water Cycle (2018)

After Coal: Welsh and Appalachian Mining Communities (2016)

Keep Your Eye Upon the Scale (2015)

The Electricity Fairy (2011)      

Slow Voltage (2006)        

Coal Bucket Outlaw (2002)

The Breaks of the Mountain (1999)

Publications

Books

• After Coal: Stories of Survival From Appalachia and Wales. West Virginia University Press, 2018

Book Chapters

• The Land and Us: Strategies to build communal land ownership in post coal Appalachia. Book chapter co-authored with Julie Shepherd-Powell for In Pursuit of a Just Transition: Reports From the Appalachian Post Coal Revolution. Eds: Scott, Shaunna and Engle, Kathryn. University Press of Kentucky, 2022
• Collective Vigilance: Protecting the Headwaters of the New. Book chapter and case study in EcoArt in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities. Eds: Fremantle, Chris; Geffen, Amara; Rahmani, Aviva; and Rosenthal, Ann. New Village Press, 2022
• After Coal, through Film: Welsh and Appalachian Mining Communities. Book chapter co-authored with Patricia Beaver for Global Mountain Regions: Conversations Toward the Future. Eds: Ann Kingsolver and Sasikumar Balasundaram. Indiana University Press, 2018
• Slow Voltage: Toward a Community Based Energy Policy. Book chapter in We All Live Downstream: Americans Talk About Mountaintop Removal. Ed: Jason Howard. Motes Books, Louisville, KY, 2009

Selected Journal Articles

• Documentary and Community: An interview with Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Appalachian Journal Vol 46, 3:4 (2019)
• “Keep Your Eye Upon The Scale,” Co-authored with Patricia Beaver and Angela Wiley, in Southern Spaces online journal, Emory University, 2015.

• “Appalachian Music Films: From Appalshop to Zwigoff” (Contributor), Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review Vol. 42:3-4 (2015).
• “Documenting and Engaging Communities in Appalachia and Wales: Life After Coal” Co-authored with Patricia Beaver Practicing Anthropology. Vol. 36:4 (2014).
• “Establishing Documentary Production Support for 21^st Century Campuses.” Journal of Education and Information Technologies Co-authored with Elizabeth Davison, Vol. 19:1 (2014).

Further Reading

Refereed publications that discuss my documentary work:

• The Art of Documenting: Documentary Film in the 21^st Century by Brian Winston, Gail Vanstone, and Wang Chi.  New York, NY, Bloomsbury (2017)
• Do Miners Read Dickens? by Hywel Francis and Sian Williams. Cardigan, Wales: Parthian Press (2013).

• Berea College Magazine, Berea, KY (Spring 2010).
• Human = Landscape: Aesthetics of a Carbon Restrained Future, Exhibit Catalogue by Christopher Thompson. Burlington, VT: Burlington City Arts, (2009).
• Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness, Radical Strip-mining and the Devastation of Appalachia. New York: Riverhead Books, (2007).
• Beginner’s Guide to Community Arts by Keith Knight and Mat Schwarzman. Oakland, CA: New Village Press, (2005).
• “Films and Videos of West Virginia and Appalachia” by Steve Fessenmaier Goldenseal Vol 29:4 (2003)

Articles and interviews

SELECTED PRESS

Case Study in EcoArt in Action book:

https://nyupress.org/9781613321485/ecoart-in-action/

C-Span broadcast with Sarah Jones (New York Magazine) and Rick MacArthur (Harpers Magazine)

: https://www.c-span.org/video/?457082-1/after-coal

Pacific Standard article: https://psmag.com/environment/how-can-the-u-s-and-u-k-pursue-a-just-transition-from-coal

Daily Yonder article (After Coal book excerpt) 10.10.2018. https://dailyyonder.com/the-narrative-of-renewal-if-we-cant-mine-coal-what-are-we-going-to-do/2018/10/10/

Publishers Weekly review  https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-946684-55-4

Podcasts

Appalachia Meets World https://appalachiameetsworld.podbean.com/e/appalachia-meets-world-episode-20-tom-hansell-after-coal/

Appalachia America: https://ohiovalleyresource.org/appalachamerica/

??? (may cut)

Review in WV Gazette Mail https://www.wvgazettemail.com/_arts__entertainment/after-coal-documentary-questions-survival-in-post-coal-economy/article_d8efcb34-5b74-58cd-81ff-611981d7042a.html

Chapter in Global Mountain regions book  https://iupress.org/9780253036865/global-mountain-regions/

Videos

Panel Discussion at West Virginia University Law School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Tt8IKzIyQ