NOT ON THIS LAND

Not On This Land (47 minutes) tells the story of the activists who fought for six years against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — and won. The film premiered in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2023 and has been screened at festivals and other gatherings, including the Eugene Environmental Film Festival and the Richmond International Film Festival, where it was a 2023 Grand Jury winner for best environmental film.

The Pipeline: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was announced in 2014. It was to have crossed West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, over 600 miles in all through the Blue Ridge Mountains, critical ecosystems, and Indigenous communities. The pipeline’s compressor station was to have been sited in historic Union Hill, a community formed by formerly enslaved people after emancipation. Dozens of environmental groups, religious congregations, law firms, and others worked together to fight the pipeline, winning, and sometimes losing, lawsuits challenging permits issued for the pipeline. Ultimately, the long fight caused delays and cost increases, and Dominion Energy withdrew the project on July 5, 2020.

The Director: Chris Landry is a filmmaker and communications strategist whose work focuses on social, racial, and environmental justice. His first film, Joanna Macy and the Great Turning, was shown on the PBS series Natural Heroes. He and his team drove hundreds of miles through Western Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina to make Not On This Land, of which he says, “It was such a gift and an honor to tell the story of these remarkable activists who simply refused to give up.”

Landry lives in western Massachusetts, and collaborates with a talented group of independent cinematographers, editors, writers, and designers across the country. His gift for storytelling was built during his years in the nonprofit world, working primarily in food security and sustainable agriculture. 

Learn More: Appalachian Voices was one of the leading organizations in the pipeline fight, and is still opposing the destructive and unnecessary Mountain Valley Pipeline.