This op-ed originally provided by The Lexington Herald-Leader

December 28, 2005

Buffalo Creek flood film to be included in National Film Registry

Associated Press

WHITESBURG, Ky. - A film about the 1972 Buffalo Creek flood, in which 125 West Virginians were killed and thousands more left homeless, has been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry, the film's producers announced Wednesday.

"The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man," is one of 25 motion pictures selected by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington to be added to the registry.

The annual selection of films that are considered culturally, historically or aesthetically significant is a term of the National Film Preservation Act.

The 1975 Buffalo Creek film was directed by Mimi Pickering and produced by Appalshop, a media arts center in Whitesburg, Ky.

The film is described by the Library of Congress as a "powerful documentary" that "represents the finest in regional filmmaking, providing important understanding of the environmental and cultural history of the Appalachian region."

On Feb. 26, 1972, a Pittston Company coal-waste dam collapsed, sending a wall of sludge, debris and water through 16 communities in the Logan County valley below. The documentary chronicles the impact of the disaster through interviews with survivors, representatives of union and citizens' groups and officials with the coal company.