Screening, Discussion Set for Documentary on Haynesville Natural Gas Find

The Tulane Energy Institute will host a screening and panel discussion of "Haynesville," a new documentary that examines the discovery of the nation"s largest natural gas field in rural northwest Louisiana and its impact on individual landowners and the world.

The special preview screening will take place at 7 p.m., Oct. 26 at the Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp Street, New Orleans. Doors and a cash bar will open at 6:30 p.m. The panel discussion, moderated by Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute, will feature Gregory Kallenberg, director and producer of "Haynesville," Christopher Fettweis, Tulane assistant professor of political science, Mary Blue, professor of practice in Tulane"s film studies program and Marjorie McKeithen, an attorney with Jones Walker and former secretary of the Louisiana Minerals Management Board.

Formed more than 170 million years ago in northwest Louisiana and east Texas, the Haynesville Shale formation was developed as an energy source last year, creating millionaires in the long-economically depressed area near Shreveport.

Hailed as "an incredible story" and "a piece of brilliant independent filmmaking," "Haynesville," will premiere at England"s prestigious Sheffield International Documentary Festival and has been nominated for its "Green Doc" award. It will also be shown in Copenhagen during the upcoming COP15 Climate Summit. The film follows the lives of three small town landowners who are caught up in the middle of a boom in which politics, money, religion, public safety, corporate power, activism, greed and the future of clean energy all intersect.

"I set out to make a documentary about a historic natural gas find and its affect on three lives," Kallenberg says, "But as I looked deeper, I learned that finds like this could be instrumental in getting the U.S. off of coal and moving us towards a cleaner and greener energy future. While I hope this film helps people understand that all energy has a human cost, I also hope "Haynesville" helps shape the national discussion around natural gas as a fuel source and its integration with renewables."

Smith, with Tulane"s Energy Institute, also sees natural gas as a facilitator for renewable energy.

"Solar and wind power are wonderful concepts, but no one has figured out what to do when the wind stops blowing and the sun isn"t shining. Natural gas is a flexible resource to cleanly cover the shortfalls until technology advances enough to provide us with continuous reliable, renewable energy sources."

The politics, law, personal lives and creative response to the historic Haynesville discovery will be the subject of the panel discussion. The screening and discussion are free and open to the public. However, seating is limited. To reserve your spot contact Fran Wild at 504-865-5427 or fwild@tulane.edu.