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Independent Lens
Deadly Jails: An Oklahoma Mental Health Crisis
An investigation into how a state like Oklahoma is ill-equipped to handle mentally ill people in incarceration, sometimes with tragic consequences.
The former lead mining town of Picher, Oklahoma is one of the most toxic places in America, but a dwindling population still calls it home.
Julianna Brannum is a documentary filmmaker based in Austin, TX. Her first film, The Creek Runs Red, was selected to air on PBS’s national prime-time series, Independent Lens. She later co-produced a feature-length documentary with Emmy Award-winning producer, Stanley Nelson for PBS’s We Shall Remain– a 5-part series on Native American history. The… Show more
San Francisco-based filmmaker Bradley Beesley has been named one of Filmmaker’s Top 25 Independent Filmmakers. His 2005 documentary The Fearless Freaks, featuring the Flaming Lips, has screened worldwide and aired on the Sundance Channel. Summercamp!, which Beesley co-directed with Sarah Price, premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film… Show more
James Payne has worked on the productions of several award-winning feature documentaries including Hill Stomp Hollar (2000), The Fearless Freaks (2005), and Okie Noodling (2001), which he wrote and produced with longtime friend Bradley Beesley.
In 2006, Payne started the Fieldguide Media Company, which focuses on documentary productions. In addition to producing and directing, he works as a sound recordist in narrative, documentary, network television, and commercial productions.
Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.
Located in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, the town of Picher was once home to the world’s richest lead and zinc mining field. But since the area was declared a Superfund site in 1981, Picher’s residents have been forced to choose between preserving their image of the American dream and preserving their health. The Creek Runs Red journeys into the heart of a sharply divided community to reveal an array of human reactions to an environmental disaster.
After decades of mining, towering piles of mine waste covered 25,000 acres, devastating Quapaw tribal lands and local economies. Acid mine water burned nearby Tar Creek and stained it red. Despite these environmental hazards, many people in Picher desperately wished to stay and revitalize their town.
But when an alarmingly high percentage of local children were found to have toxic levels of lead in their blood, a committee was quickly formed to relocate the town. Property values plummeted and the EPA arrived to replace tainted soil in yards. Some residents resented what they saw as an invasive presence by the federal government in one of the state’s poorest counties. Meanwhile, others wondered if the environment might also be to blame for high rates of cancer and other diseases.
The Creek Runs Red is an emotionally stirring and intimate portrait of a small town struggling to determine its future in light of its past.
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