WILKES-BARRE – Sixty years ago, our ancestors were digging deep in the mines of Northeastern Pennsylvania, until the water came rushing in.
The Knox Mine Disaster of January, 1959, was an unprecedented local catastrophe – one that took the lives of 12 men and 5,000 jobs overnight, bringing hard coal mining in the Wyoming Valley to a complete halt.
The underground mine in Port Griffith is permanently flooded with 10 billion gallons of water and its rippling effects are felt to this day: the hard labor of those men and the determination to provide for their families continues to inspire the blue-collar, hard coal culture of our community.
Wyoming Valley natives director David Brocca and producer Albert Brocca have been working over the past 10 years to share the untold stories of the disaster. Slated for Jan. 22, the 60th anniversary of the disaster, the premiere screening of “Knox Mine Disaster – The End of Anthracite” takes place at 7 p.m. at the Kirby Center for the Creative Arts at Wyoming Seminary and will include a musical performance by blues artist Lex Romane and a post-film discussion with David and Albert Brocca and author Robert Wolensky. Tickets are $15.
Director David Brocca graduated from Wyoming Area High School and studied film at Penn State University. He moved to Los Angeles, Calif., in 2001 to pursue an internship and has since specialized in live coverage for events such as Comic-Con, the Electronic Arts Expo and the MTV Video Music Awards.
Brocca’s opportunity to expand into documentary film making occurred by happenstance. Award-winning author and professor Robert Wolensky, who has written three books on the local coal mining industry, approached Brocca with a proposal for the documentary film.
“I was hesitant at first, since I had never done a documentary. But the first interview with Wolensky, who has been of tremendous help to me throughout the process, snowballed into the next and soon I was interviewing the local people who were a part of the disaster and their family members.
“The most rewarding thing for me was meeting those who lived through this tragedy and getting to record their stories. Learning of our hard coal, hard-working culture gave me a sense of identity. The stakes have never been higher because I am representing my hometown to a much larger audience. That is the goal really, to tell the story of the Knox Mine Disaster,” said Brocca.
‘New Perspective’
Production for “Knox Mine Disaster” began in 2008 with recorded interviews, but the vision for the documentary changed into that of a feature film within the last two years when Brocca decided that telling such an important story required a never-before-seen perspective.
Brocca teamed up with illustrator Ben Mackey to produce a charcoal-styled animated reenactment of the Knox Mine Disaster from underground.
“The illustrations are so visually stunning. Creatively speaking, working with Ben Mackey on these drawings to illustrate what really happened to the men underground is something that has not been done in previous films about the tragedy. The Knox Mine Disaster told as an adventure story is my contribution to the legacy,” Brocca said.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday for the premiere screening event of “The Knox Mine Disaster – The End of Anthracite.” Tickets can be purchased online through the official website, www.knoxminedisaster.com.
“I encourage the local community to come to the premiere and learn about our history. Bring out your grandparents, enjoy in their company and experience something together that has affected us all,” said Brocca.
Following the premiere screening, “The Knox Mine Disaster – The End of Anthracite” will be shown at film festivals around the country. Hard copy DVDs and additional local screenings of the film are planned for the 61st anniversary of the Knox Mine Disaster.
