The Unforeseen (2007)
Source: http://planetinfocus.org/festival/unforeseen
Austin Texas is a boomtown in the late 1970’s, a place where a west Texas farm boy believes he will make his fortune. He spearheads the fastest selling subdivision in the state until word gets out that the local treasure, a fragile limestone aquifer and naturally spring fed swimming hole is threatened. The community springs to action, fights back and forms one of America’s strongest environmental movements. Later, the whole Savings and Loans scandal of the 1980’s explodes, putting development on hold. But the story doesn’t end there. This visually stunning meditative work of art makes us ponder our understanding of property rights, public space, development, and our ability to be custodians of the natural world. When we dream, what are we really wishing for?
Laura Dunn started making documentaries in response to her undergraduate experience at Yale University. Through a chronicle of labor strikes on campus, The Subtext of a Yale Education (1999) she examined the corporatization of higher education. Other works include Green (2000), a sobering look at environmental racism along the Mississippi River petrochemical corridor, a.k.a. "Cancer Alley" and Become the Sky (2002), an ecological map of power in Texas. Honours for her works include a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship and Yale's Trumbull College Fine Arts Prize. The Unforseen is her first feature film.
