GASLAND PART II, JOSH FOX'S FOLLOW-UP TO HIS OSCAR®-NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY, DEBUTS JULY 8, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO

Film Reveals How Stakes Have Been Raised On All Sides In One Of The Most Important Environmental Issues Facing The Nation Today

 

In the explosive follow-up to his Oscar®-nominated documentary "Gasland," filmmaker Josh Fox uses his trademark dark humor to take a deeper, broader look at the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil, now occurring on a global level (in 32 countries worldwide).

Debuting MONDAY, JULY 8 (9:00-11:15 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, GASLAND PART II shows how the stakes have been raised on all sides in one of the most important environmental issues facing the nation today. The film argues that the gas industry's portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth, and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth's climate with the potent greenhouse gas, methane. In addition, the film looks at how the powerful oil and gas industries are, in Fox's words, "contaminating our democracy." The timely documentary premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Other HBO playdates: July 8 (4:55 a.m.), 11 (8:15 a.m., 4:15 p.m.), 14 (3:15 p.m.), 17 (1:45 p.m., midnight) and 20 (9:10 a.m.)

HBO2 playdates: July 10 (8:00 p.m.) and 25 (3:50 a.m.)

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through August 12. Other July films include: "Gideon's Army" (July 1); "The Crash Reel" (July 15); "The Cheshire Murders" (July 24); and "First Comes Love" (July 29).

Ever since theater director-turned-filmmaker Josh Fox was approached five years ago with an unexpected offer of $100,000 for the natural gas drilling rights to his property in the Delaware River Basin, on the border of New York and Pennsylvania, he has been on a mission to investigate and expose the environmental risks of hydraulic facturing. His first film, "Gasland," debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize, and made its HBO debut later that year. The film was subsequently shown in more than 30 countries to an estimated 50 million viewers. In addition to an Oscar® nomination for Best Documentary Feature, "Gasland" won an Emmy® for Best Nonfiction Directing and was nominated for three other Emmys®. As a result of his activism, Fox was awarded the 2010 Lennon Ono Grant for Peace by Yoko Ono.

GASLAND PART II begins with the 2012 State of the Union Address, in which President Obama declares his support for the safe development of natural gas production, something Fox and the anti-fracking community believe is impossible. Beneath the continental U.S., some contend, lies a vast underground ocean of natural gas waiting to be harvested, with the potential to supply energy to millions of Americans.

However, as Fox explained in "Gasland," the drilling process, called hydraulic fracturing or fracking, is exempted by the Bush-Cheney Energy Policy Act of 2005 from the United States' most basic environmental regulations, including the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act, and poses many environmental threats to water and air.

In "Gasland," Fox discovered tap water so contaminated it could be set on fire right out of the tap, chronically ill residents with similar symptoms in drilling areas across the country, and huge pools of toxic waste that kill livestock and vegetation. In GASLAND PART ll, he revisits families whose lives have been upended from living near fracking wells and introduces new characters. Fox interviews politicians who have been trying to stop fracking and help the people affected by it, as well as experts who support Fox's concerns about the dangers of fracking and the urgent need for a shift to truly clean renewable energy.

Fox returns to Dimock, Pa., Pavilion, Wyo., and Dish, Tex. to see how the residents are faring in their fight to secure clean water from local governments and the E.P.A., and ventures to Australia to see what is happening outside the U.S. as fracking becomes a global practice.

In order to understand the potential dangers of fracking, Fox interviews Tony Ingraffea, Professor of Engineering, Cornell University, a former researcher for the gas industry. Ingraffea, who was named one of Time magazine's People Who Matter in 2011, explains why in his opinion, fracking can never be done safely. He illustrates how cement in wells can be vulnerable to cracking and that once it has cracked, methane gas can migrate into any underground source of drinking water.

In GASLAND PART ll, Fox also argues that new choices must be made about where the nation gets its energy. He talks to Stanford professor Mark Jacobson, who argues that the U.S. could stop drilling for coal, oil and natural gas altogether and bundle together the renewable resources of wind, high-concentrated solar power, geothermal power, hydroelectric power and tidal power to handle the country's current energy needs.

But Fox's biggest concern in GASLAND PART ll is perhaps his belief that "the enormously powerful oil and gas industry has not only contaminated our water, air and land, but also our democracy."

Towards the film's conclusion, Fox is arrested trying to film a congressional hearing regarding the E.P.A. results in Pavilion. But as the fight to protect the earth from extreme energy development seems even more challenging, Fox remains determined and undeterred.

GASLAND PART II is directed and produced by Josh Fox; produced by Trish Adlesic; produced by Deborah Wallace; co-producer, Matthew Sanchez; cinematography, Josh Fox and Matthew Sanchez; editor, Matthew Sanchez. For HBO: senior producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

GIDEON'S ARMY, AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM THROUGH THE EYES of IDEALISTIC YOUNG PUBLIC DEFENDERS IN THE SOUTH, DEBUTS JULY 1 ON HBO

Documentary Won 2013 Sundance Editing Award

In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested for stealing soda and a few dollars from a pool hall. Unable to afford an attorney, he was convicted after representing himself at trial. Gideon appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the right to counsel in a criminal case is fundamental to the American system of justice.

More than 12 million people are arrested in the United States each year. Fifty years after the landmark Gideon v. Wainwright case, most of them will be represented by one of the United States' 15,000 public defenders.

Directed by attorney Dawn Porter and winner of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Editing Award for U.S. Documentary Competition, GIDEON'S ARMY follows a group of idealistic young public defenders in the Deep South, where lawyers face particularly difficult challenges due to high bonds, minimum mandatory sentencing and a culture that is traditionally "tough on crime." The thought-provoking film debuts MONDAY, JULY 1 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

Other HBO playdates: July 1 (5:20 a.m.), 7 (1:05 p.m.), 9 (4:00 p.m., 12:15 a.m.), 13 (9:45 a.m.) and 19 (8:15 a.m.)

HBO2 playdate: July 3 (11:15 a.m., 8:00 p.m.)

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through August 12. Other July films include: "Gasland Part II" (July 8); "The Crash Reel" (July 15); "The Cheshire Murders" (July 24); and "First Comes Love" (July 29).

Brandy Alexander, Travis Williams and June Hardwick have dedicated themselves to defending those who otherwise would not receive representation, contending with a day-to-day life of low pay, long hours and staggering caseloads. Despite these obstacles, with the help of the Southern Public Defender Training Center (SPDTC), these young professionals are inspired to take on this unique challenge in the name of public service.

Travis Williams is a Gainesville, Ga. lawyer whose client, Branden Lee Mullin, has been accused of armed robbery and faces a minimum of ten years to a maximum of life in prison. Brandy Alexander has served as a public defender in both Georgia and Florida and is preparing to go to trial on behalf of her client, Demontes Regary Wright, a young man also charged with armed robbery.

The demands on these public defenders can be overwhelming: The average caseload for a public defender in Miami Dade County, Fla. is 500 felonies and 225 misdemeanors. Not surprisingly, many public defender offices across the nation have an incredibly high turnover rate. The pace is exhausting, and the legal wrangling intense, but these young public defenders persevere. Knowing the stakes are high - and their clients' lives will be deeply affected by what they do, or fail to do - they push themselves to the limit over and over again.

Does their work have to be this difficult? Experts cite the nation's approach to criminal justice to explain the dire state of indigent defense. In many southern states, bonds for misdemeanor crimes are exorbitantly high, as much as $40,000 for misdemeanor crimes like shoplifting, which most defendants cannot afford. This leads to a high rate of pretrial detention for indigent clients, with many serving months or even years in prison without a trial. Another factor is the rate of plea bargaining intended simply to end pretrial detention. Notes Brett Willis, a senior public defender featured in the film, "The reality is 90% or 95% of the people who get charged with something plead guilty...because the system is designed to force them to plead guilty and it punishes their failure to comply."

In addition to lengthy prison sentences, clients found guilty can face severe civil sanctions, which can result in such extreme punishments as: losing eligibility for public benefits, such as federal student loans; losing the ability to live in public housing with one's family; losing the right to vote; and, in some regions, losing the right to hold a driver's license, which can be a severe obstacle to finding post-incarceration employment.

Along with the perilous circumstances facing the accused, public defenders typically face a multitude of trying professional and personal circumstances, for which no amount of training can prepare them. Notes Travis Williams, "I have huge student loan debt. After I pay my student loans and my rent, all I have left is probably $300 a month to pay extra bills like gas and the car, all that kind of stuff, groceries. But I don't see how you can do this work for any period of time and not begin to love it. If you don't, then it'll just drive you insane."

These committed attorneys are backed by mentor Jonathan Rapping,the dynamic leader of the Atlanta-based Southern Public Defender Training Center (SPDTC), designed to fill a void in the training currently available to young public defenders. The center offers a comprehensive curriculum designed specifically for public defenders and geared toward the improvement of indigent defense representation and raising the standard of practice in jurisdictions nationwide. The group often provides emotional support, in addition to practical instruction, as the young public defenders talk about their work and empathize over similar situations.

As Rapping states in one of their seminars, "This will be a battle that will be won, and your children will look back on this struggle to save people from this unjust, cruel, inhumane criminal justice system. And you all will be the foot soldiers, you will be the ones who brought that about."

The U.S. incarcerates more citizens annually than any other industrialized nation. At the beginning of 2008, 2.3 million Americans were behind bars, followed by China with 1.5 million. Director Dawn Porter explains, "Americans are fascinated with crime, and yet few know the truth about how the criminal justice system really works. GIDEON'S ARMY presents a rare true look at the criminal justice system from the vantage point of the accused. I wanted to be sure the inspiring, challenging nature of the work these public defenders do, which involves a tremendous amount of personal sacrifice in service to our constitutional rights, was given the attention it deserved."

The film is produced in association with the Ford Foundation.

For more information on the documentary, visit: Facebook: facebook.com/hbodocs; and Twitter: @HBODocs #GideonsArmy.

GIDEON'S ARMY is directed and produced by Dawn Porter; producer, Julie Goldman; editor, Matthew Hamachek; co-producer, Summer Damon; original music, Paul Brill. For HBO: senior producers, Nancy Abraham and Jacqueline Glover; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.