The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area is consistently ranked among the top 10 most-polluted regions in the United States based on measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air for which a small number of corporate polluters are responsible. Obscuring Power is a short film following community “smoke readers », concerned residents trained in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Method 9 to monitor visible pollution emissions and report violations. Method 9 is a policy for regulating emissions with the human eye. Despite the proliferation of camera recording technology, it is still widely used to regulate smoke emissions. Obscuring Power is a slow meditation on vision, certainty, and doubt. It combines footage and soundscapes of Pittsburgh industrial sites with glimpses of community monitoring efforts to consider contemporary compulsory risk, accountability and systems of power.
Obscuring Power
Obscuring Power
International Premiere
Mallea Erin
Mallea Erin
Mallea Erin