The documentary Unearthed, by local farm girl Jolynn Minnaar near Graaff-Reinet, is drawing international attention. Its topic? Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) …
Like many who grow up in rural areas or on a farm, Minnaar loved the wide uninhabited space of the Karoo. And when plans were revealed to frack for shale gas, she went to the U.S.A. better to understand the technology. Here she found the consequences of fracking to be rather unlike the promises her rural community had been given.
The production team believe the documentary to be the widest collection of material on fracking available. At the international film festival in Sheffield, England, in June it won the “Green Award”. It is voted by many to be the best South African movie this year. Find the trailer on Youtube or at www.un-earthed.com. A shorter documentary by the same team, The Fracking Facade, is essential viewing.
Last week, Minnaar won the 2014 “Woman of the Year: Change Agent” title by Glamour Magazine.
