Life After Coal

Life After Coal sits at the intersection of the green revolution, the end of fossil fuels and the social impact of that shift. Our film covers the topic from an arts-based perspective, creating hope and a vision of the future. The film tackles large, global issues via an eclectic town in the Victorian countryside. The group of artists selected create artworks that imagine a new future for the town, each grappling with the scientific, environmental and philosophical impacts of reimagining a new identity as the coal industry ends.
The film exclusively features artwork from local artists, alongside the central observational documentation of the process of creating the artworks, to help illustrate the complex web of issues that make the change a vexed topic. The film also seeks to address the false dichotomy and narratives around left/right, greenies/coal workers established by the mainstream media that are divisive rather than helpful.

Our impact campaign is centred around the #lifeaftercoal movement, utilising a three pronged approach for impact, the film, the community and education. Our central goal is: How do we empower communities to imagine life after coal for themselves?

Our film bakes impact into the heart of the process. The film follows 5 artists, who will be funded to create large-scale public artworks that explore life after coal.

We want to open up the possibilities of what life after coal could look like in Australia. Everyone in the world needs access to cheap, clean power, and by using The Latrobe Valley as a microcosm of a shift that is happening around the world, we want to show the myriad of game changing possibilities that communities can dream up for themselves. The power of art as a tool to change minds is the core of our project’s philosophy.
By baking in the impact process to the narrative of the film itself, and ensuring the process would be replicable, we know the impact of this film could send ripples around the world. As the climate crisis intensifies, there is no more immediate existential threat that needs minds opened up to new ways of creating power.

We are in the process of acquiring official partnerships for the film. We are supported by the Doc Society Art + Impact fellowship, who are helping to arrange a roundtable with partnerships for this project specifically. The relationship with the doc society has been instrumental in our film having a strong impact component. We’ve been fortunate to learn from the leaders in impact producing about the kinds of impact campaigns we can run, both on an independent scale and if we are to secure funding.

After watching the film, we want our audiences to discuss and share their visions for the future, via the #lifeaftercoal conversation. We want them to advocate for alternative visions of Australia, as a renewable powerhouse. We want people to seek information about the rehabilitation plans in their own communities. We want people to change their behavior when it comes to participating in designing and dreaming up what their towns and communities could look like in the future.