The documentary was an excellent example of what a community can do when it works together…the film actually is a true reflection how the community around the refinery actually feels.
Joanne Rossi
CLRTC President

…It’s like some science-fiction movie… I knew that those plants were built on former plantations. That was something that stayed in my head for many years…
S. Grunberg, from an interview w/David Walker

The (POV) films comes from committed filmmakers who are in communities where these issues are playing out… In a lot of ways POV is reflecting the issues that are going on in our society…
Cara Mertes
Executive Director of POV

Slawomir Grunberg and Jane Greenberg’s Fenceline: A Company Town Divided reveals two communities in Norco, Louisiana: the African-Americans who think the pollution from the local refinery is responsible for their health problems, and the white community who disagree.
Film and Tape World, June 2002

This program – which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series – would be an excellent and unique addition to collections with an interest in environmental issues. Highly recommended.
Video Librarian, November 2002

AUDIENCE REACTIONS

Please forward this to whoever accepted the film for broadcast, and to ITVS and POV. “Fenceline” is one of the best documentaries I’ve seen on PBS this season. Terrific camerawork, character selection, storytelling, writing and editing. Beautiful film. Thank you. In the spirit tradition of Barbara Kopple before she sold out (or wearied). May you not tire of telling empowering stories and showing clearly the forces of resistance. What a courageous woman Richards is! Your scene selection was just right. Thank you to all the execs at PBS and ITVS, POV and funders who supported and made this possible.
Diane Hendrix, Streaming Productions

If I were you I’d enter every prize competition on the planet. I found Fenceline to be exceptionally well balanced in its presentation of a thorny problem which faces corporate America and its local communities. I looked in vain for a bad guy to hate. It would have been easy to hate the polluting corporation(s) but your fair presentation of the dilemma they face made that somewhat difficult. You made telling point of the pollution itself but by highlighting the complexity of the problem you pushed us in the direction of rational thought about the problem rather than flaring emotion. Moreover, your superb camera work (some of it downright visual poetry)… seamless editing and sound as well … gave the presentation an extremely engaging feel as the suspense (despite the last sentence of your intro) mounted. We knew (felt) at the outset that things might be better in the end but we didn’t know how much better. It was a pleasure to root for this classy underdog. And as I say, the very high productio n values made it especially delightful… as a learning experience and as art appreciation. Most important of course is the level of success you have reached in the essential business of the documentary: important truth revealed. From the warm intimacy of our look at the folks on both sides to the belching flumes and that wrenching shot of the black crap stirred up in the water of the bayou, you have indeed revealed some important truth.
Bob Earle

I watched the documentary on PBS on 7/23. I grew up in Lutcher Louisiana in the 60’s and early 70’s and remember smelling the chemicals from the Kaiser Aluminum plant in Gramercy. As a little girl I use to wonder what the orange residue was that came out of those plants and why everyone’s car was orange or rusted. As an adult and living out in Inglewood Calif. I wonder what long term effects those chemicals had on the residents there. I lost my grandmother to Cancer in 1974, who lived in Lutcher. I am really happy and pleased that someone like Margie was able to keep fighting. She is a very strong woman.(most Louisiana women are) It was also wonderful to know that someone like yourselves helped also. I think those little towns are so out of touch sometimes and people just settle for whatever is told to them. I read an article in “Essence” magazine about “Cancer Alley” and it was so sad. Thanks for this wonderful documentary. It made me aware of what is still happening in a place I will forever call home. I live in California but I still have relatives and friends in those little small towns. If I was able I would have fought right there with them. Thank you again. Wonderful.
JSUDD194@aol.com

I saw your program and loved it. Great job. The politics and social condition of this situation brought me back to my childhood in rural Louisiana in the 60’s. Thank you for using such great care in presenting the issues and story.
Bert Bertrand Reed, Cornell University

“Fenceline” was outstanding …. our entire office viewed it and we look forward to seeing more work like this… director and his crew did a wonderful job explaining both sides of the fenceline…
Submitted to ITVS

I wanted to make known that the documentary on Margie Richards and the Fenceline protest was very exemplary and moving. To know that for once in a long while a Black voice was heard without entertaining someone. It seems that every time a Black person has issues the response is always to confuse the issue with a bunch of dumb divisive remarks that cloud the issues in order to not respond at all. In other words, companies never ever want to admit they are wrong. It seemed that no matter how much proof Ms. Richards had she was never validated even when she went to visit the Home office of the Royal Dutch. It sickened me see how they laughed at her mere presence and the way they sneered at her trying to make her feel ridiculous. …Please tell Margie, many thanks for not giving up, she has greatly inspired me, forever.
Submitted to POV

…it was great they need an Erin Brockevitch (or Julia Roberts). I hope you film can make a difference it seems as if it already has, just by the fact that you were making such a film probably got the community the attention it needed to get the company off it’s butt…
Pamela Poitier, Bahamas

…I watch a lot of shows throughout the year — yours was one of the rare ones that made me think — “that’s the kind of thing I’d like to do.” Excellent work, …your doc is something I would watch more than once and enjoy each time. It’s more than a report, it is a true documentary.
David Murdock, Washington DC

I am so impressed by folks who try to make a difference in their lives and those they care for; and the lady who was leading the fight did so calmly, intelligently, courageously, and without seeming to be militant. You just presented the facts in both cases without taking sides. Of course I suppose that is really what a documentary is supposed to do. …The program was fantastic. The photography was wonderful. It was like a history lesson for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A friend of mine came over to view it with me. He and I would get up and dance every time Tony’s music played.
Juliet Drenning, New Orleans

I saw Fenceline on POV this week – very well done -tight – good editing – inspiring and motivating – I liked the music. I lived in Texas for 8 years and poor air quality and illness contributed to all the refineries was always a contentious subject. People would say that the brilliant orange/red setting sun was due to all the refinery pollution in the air and not to natural beauty – scared me!!!
Judith Kubran, New York City

Wonderful documentary………everyone who has seen it really enjoyed and learned a lot.
Ray Coffman, New Orleans