Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s “King Coal” Is a New York Times Critics Pick
Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s most recent film has been named a Critics Pick by the New York Times. Sheldon is an assistant professor in the cinema studies program in the School of Art.
The film, described as “a lyrical tapestry of a place and people,” meditates on the complex history and future of the coal industry, the communities it has shaped, and the myths it has created. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker “reshapes the boundaries of documentary filmmaking in a spectacularly beautiful and deeply moving immersion into Central Appalachia where coal is not just a resource, but a way of life.”
Sheldon’s film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and began a theatrical tour in New York City that will continue through the Spring of 2024. Next on Sheldon’s film calendar is to direct a feature narrative that looks at the life of Mary Harris Jones—the indomitable labor figure known to history as Mother Jones.