Praise for Laura Israel
's WINDFALL
"CRITIC'S PICK! Urgent, informative and artfully assembled. The film's implications are clear: The quest for energy independence comes with caveats. Energy companies remain eager to plunder nature's bounty in pursuit of profit." - Andrew Webster, The New York Times
"I thought wind energy was something I could believe in. Windfall has taken the wind out of my sails." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"A sublimely cinematic documentary, 'Windfall' is thoroughly engaging, educational and entertaining. It proves, once again, that the best nonfiction cinema possesses the same attributes as good fiction: Strong characters, conflict, story arc, visual style."
- John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal
"Daring...intriguing...insightful. A thorough, close-up examination of how energy policy gets worked out on the ground - often at the expense of community harmony. Eco docs are rarely as attuned to the folly of human ingenuity as this one or as insightful on our knee-jerk demand for impossibly easy solutions." - Mark Holcomb, Village Voice
" Enlightening and visually striking." - Tom Keogh, The Seattle Times
"Fascinating....Gripping. 'Windfall' is about much more than the hidden costs and unexpected side effects of wind-power generation, or about a citizens' uprising in the tiny town of Meredith, N.Y. It's about the American tendency - and very likely the human tendency - to look for magic-bullet solutions to complicated social and economic problems, where none are available. It's a microcosmic version of the political divisions - between left and right, environmentalists and free-marketers, corporations and citizens - that have virtually paralyzed our republic. It's a reminder that whenever a virtually unregulated industry (as in this case) offers capitalists a chance to defraud the little guy and make a bundle, they'll do it. It's a tantalizing case study that suggests ordinary people still have the power to steer a course between faceless bureaucracies and greedy capitalists, but only just - and only if they can find a way to overcome their differences and work together." -Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"Never alarmist or patronizing…strung so tightly and effortlessly together that it’s hard to believe this is a first-time filmmaker at hand." - Christopher Bell, IndieWire
"Fascinating, insightful, and fair… An intimate portrait of one New York community in heavy battle." - Stewart Nusbaumer, Huffington Post
"Emotionally charged human conflict that results in a genuine cliffhanger."
-Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
"Methodically destroys the pro-wind argument in 83 minutes…remarkable!"
- Kevin Filipski, Flipside Reviews
"Timely...a carefully researched and well-balanced study. See this film and consider what it reveals before steaming ahead with wind turbine development."
- Jennifer Merin, About.com Documentaries
"Beautifully produced, elegantly structured, edited authoritatively, with unforgettable characters." - Patricia Aufderheide, Center for Social Media
"The film isn't agenda-driven advocacy, but an invitation to think critically about an alternative energy source often presented as a panacea." -Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Provides a much-needed view of the growing backlash against the rapid expansion of the wind industry." - Robert Bryce, Energy Tribune
"One of the most surprising eco docs I've seen in years. [Director Laura] Israel deserves credit." - J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
"The genre at its most revealing…category 5-level entertainment. A stunning debut, excellent and thrilling." - Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal
"An excellent film. This is a documentary that needs to be seen." - Gary Weiss, The Street
"Damningly traces a pattern of coercion and greed that extends from industry to federal and local governments. Wildfall’s community advocacy is heartening, the information valuable." - Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out Chicago
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