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One of the most controversial documentaries in recent years, GASLAND is a compelling and emotional first-person story of discovery and, ultimately, empowerment. In 2008, theatre director Josh Fox received a letter from a natural gas company, offering him $100,000 for permission to explore his upstate New York property. Josh's curiosity led him to ask questions and he discovered that the method for extracting this valuable resource from the "Saudi Arabia" of reserves - hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' - is exepmt from several important federal protections, including the clean water act.
As Josh sets out on a journey across America's heartland, his personal concerns quickly uncover global ones: the multi-million dollar business of fracking has contaminated the water supply, the corporate giants are in cover -up mode, and the PR-spun government has not only turned a blind eye, but has regulated itself out of the picture.
Rough-hewn yet poetic, the film is a desperate plea for scrutiny of a powerful industry that has now turned its eyes on a new, massive and (for now) largely unexplored territory: Australia.
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