Running for the Mountains
Feb 17, 2024 | IMDB 6
78 min Watch NowDocumentary
RUNNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS digs into West Virginia's history of 'patriotic sacrifice,' unearthing veins of dark money and dirty politics. The film tracks grassroots candidates and ordinary citizens' attempts to save their land, water, homes, and communities - calling out the pro-extraction politicians enabling destruction, including Senator Joe Manchin and his likely replacement, coal baron Governor Jim Justice. Appalachia is the proverbial canary in a coal mine; pay attention or pay the price.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
You Gave Me A Song: The Life and Music of Alice Gerrard
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Mountain Talk
Harry Caudill: A Man of Courage
My Great Great Great Uncle Built Churches
Appalachian Journey
Rand University
Trouble Behind
A Ribbon In The Sky
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
Pickin & Screamin
The Children Must Learn
Mountain Monsters: A Tribute to Trapper
A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story
King Coal
The Town That Cried Bigfoot
Phototaxis
American Hollow
Hillbilly
Scenes from the Blackjewel Miners Blockade
SIMILAR MOVIES
You Gave Me A Song: The Life and Music of Alice Gerrard
IMDB 10 | Apr , 2019
You Gave Me A Song offers an intimate portrait of old-time music pioneer Alice Gerrard and her remarkable, unpredictable journey creating and preserving traditional music. The film follows eighty-four year old Gerrard over several years, weaving together verité footage of living room rehearsals, recording sessions, songwriting, archival work, and performances with photos and rare field recordings. Much of the film is told in Alice’s voice and via interviews with musical collaborators and family members who share the story of Alice and others chasing that high lonesome sound.The Devil and Daniel Johnston
IMDB 7.7 | Mar , 2006
This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.Mountain Talk
IMDB 0 | Feb , 2004
Mountain dialect, culture and identity are revealed by the true experts on Southern Appalachian culture--the people whose families have lived there for generations.Harry Caudill: A Man of Courage
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2015
One of the most important Kentuckians of the 20th century, Harry Caudill brought the story of Appalachia to national attention when his book “Night Comes to the Cumberlands” was released in 1963. The nonfiction account of Eastern Kentucky’s coal region, part history and part polemic, eloquently recounted the exploitation of Appalachia’s land and its people by business and government interests, and made Caudill a national spokesperson for his homeland. Harry Caudill spent his life advocating for Eastern Kentucky, with the aim of helping the powerless as well as securing the region’s unmatched natural resources for future generations. His work led to lasting government reforms for Appalachia, and his legacy remains a touchstone for activists today.My Great Great Great Uncle Built Churches
IMDB 0 | Jul , 2022
Bob Childress was the founder and builder of the famous "Rock Churches" of southwest Virginia, all established between 1919 and 1954. In 2022, Buford Jessup and his family set out to visit all seven of his great uncle's churches.Appalachian Journey
IMDB 8.3 | Jul , 1991
Appalachian Journey is one of five films made from footage that Alan Lomax shot between 1978 and 1985 for the PBS American Patchwork series (1991). It offers songs, dances, stories, and religious rituals of the Southern Appalachians. Preachers, singers, fiddlers, banjo pickers, moonshiners, cloggers, and square dancers recount the good times and the hard times of rural life there. Performers include Tommy Jarrell, Janette Carter, Ray and Stanley Hicks, Frank Proffitt Jr., Sheila Kay Adams, Nimrod Workman and Phyllis Boyens, Raymond Fairchild, and others, with a bonus of a few African-Americans from the North Carolina Piedmont.Rand University
IMDB 7.2 | Nov , 2014
Randy Moss has long been an enigma known for his brilliance on the football field and his problems off it. Sometimes there's even been an intersection of those two qualities. "Rand University" gets to that crossing by going back to where he came from - Rand, West Virginia - and exploring what almost derailed him before he ever became nationally known for his extraordinary abilities as a wide receiver.Trouble Behind
IMDB 0 | Dec , 1991
During World War I, African-Americans worked on the railroad near Corbin, Kentucky. When whites returned from the war, there was conflict. Whites sought their former jobs and positions in the community. In 1919, a race riot occurred. Whites put the African-Americans on railroad cars and ran them out of town. In Trouble Behind, members of the Corbin community speak out on the issue. The filmmakers also interview former members of the Corbin, which at the time of filming had only one black family. Some Corbin residents express confusion as to why African-Americans don't move back. Others openly use racial epithets. Some young adults seem troubled by the racism, past and present. Others don't.A Ribbon In The Sky
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2026
A documentary covering the planning, construction, and legacy of the Blue Ridge Parkway.The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
IMDB 6.7 | Apr , 2009
Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine for MTV and Dickhouse Productions, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is a documentary about the renowned West Virginia outlaw Jesco White and his eccentric backwoods family. In addition to getting in trouble with the law, the Whites, who live deep within Appalachia, uphold a time-honored dancing style, even as they contend with poverty, drugs and other issues. Alternately humorous and sad, the movie is an unflinching look at life on the criminal margins of rural mountain culture.Pickin & Screamin
IMDB 0 | Jul , 2015
When people think of Appalachian music they often think of the banjo and classify it as bluegrass, but the music in the region is more diverse than that. This film focuses on the different styles, from old-time to punk music, that is played and often overlooked here in the mountains.The Children Must Learn
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1940
Documentary profiling an Appalachian farming family struggling to scrape out a living. Linking education and economic development, The Children Must Learn suggests that better schooling, especially in agricultural techniques, would bring improvement.Mountain Monsters: A Tribute to Trapper
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2021
The Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings (A.I.M.S.) team comes together to reminisce and celebrate the life of their founder, John "Trapper" Tice, in this Mountain Monsters special.A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2026
In 1915 a young, charismatic Japanese man with a mysterious past entered into the Appalachian culture of Asheville, North Carolina, is suspicioned a spy, targeted by the Klan, but perseveres with a passion for photography and the mountains he adopts, bringing to life Great Smoky Mountains National Park & the Appalachian Trail.King Coal
IMDB 7.5 | Aug , 2023
The cultural roots of coal continue to permeate the rituals of daily life in Appalachia even as its economic power wanes. The journey of a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change.The Town That Cried Bigfoot
IMDB 10 | Mar , 2026
In the bitter winter of 1978, four desperate council members from a small Virginia town hatched a daring Bigfoot hoax to save it from the brink of bankruptcy. But as the money grew, so did the greed-triggering the town's first unsolved murder.Phototaxis
IMDB 10 | Sep , 2017
“Phototaxis” draws parallels between Mothman, a prophetic and demonized creature in West Virginia lore, and Narcotics Anonymous, the main treatment program in West Virginia’s addiction epidemic.American Hollow
IMDB 5.8 | May , 1999
This documentary follows the lives of the Bowling family as they fight to survive in dirt-poor Appalachia. Matriarch Iree has given birth to 13 children, but only two have left to seek better lives in Ohio while the rest have married and started their own impoverished families near home. Uneducated and unskilled, all are unemployed, and domestic violence and alcoholism pose serious problems. The filmmakers explore the family's relationships through interviews and footage of their daily lives.Hillbilly
IMDB 7 | May , 2018
A documentary that examines the cultural stereotype of the people of Appalachia and how that has affected America's relationship with its rural communities.Scenes from the Blackjewel Miners Blockade
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2020
In July of 2019 the Blackjewel coal company announced it was declaring bankruptcy. Miners were told to stop working mid shift, and their last paychecks bounced. The miners retaliated by blocking a train full of coal, camping out on the coal tracks for weeks. Queer regional organizers made their way to the encampment to support the miners. The encampment became a place for community gathering and mutual aid distribution. Sarah Moyer, a film maker living in Kentucky, also made their way to the encampment and filmed this short documentary on the blockade. (Summary from Queer Appalachia)