February 17, 2011
New York

Anti-wind group to show film, host talk

By NANCY MADSEN, TIMES STAFF WRITER, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2011, watertowndailytimes.com

Northern New York isn’t the only place where residents struggle with industrial wind development.

“Windfall,” a documentary about potential development in Meredith, Delaware County, will be shown at 12:30 and 4 p.m. March 5 at the Clayton Opera House, 405 Riverside Drive.

The 83-minute film shows people in the town discussing their research, experiences and fears as they work on a local zoning law and the conflict that erupts.

“I want the film to motivate people to look more into it themselves,” director Laura Israel said. “I really think towns need to make up their minds for themselves.”

Ms. Israel owns a one-room log cabin in Meredith and, when she heard about the plan to put turbines in the town, wanted to host one. As she researched industrial wind development, she grew more concerned.

The film originally focused on the difference between developing wind power locally versus doing it through a large company.

“But that took a backdrop to people coming together to figure out what they would want the future of the town to be,” Ms. Israel said. “I found a lot of people in the film very inspiring and I found the democratic process very inspiring.”

She and her crew spent about a year filming town meetings and interviews in Meredith. Then they visited Maple Ridge Wind Farm in Lewis County. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and has been shown at other film festivals in the United States and Canada.

At the Clayton showing, Ms. Israel will introduce the film and be available for questions afterward.

“I don’t want to tell people what to think,” she said. “‘Pro’ and ‘anti’ are labels that shouldn’t be used in this instance at all.”

Robert E. Aliasso Jr., co-chairman of the Coalition for the Preservation of the Golden Crescent and Thousand Islands Region, said several coalition members had seen the film.

“We reached out to the producer because we thought there was a need to show it in the area,” he said. “She’s very much against having sponsors, so this is an independent film coming here and we’re just putting out information and coming on our own.”

Tickets will be free to the public because the coalition paid for the use of the venue. A reception after the first showing will be open to the public and public officials.