Staring Up from the Mineshaft

Our history

Marcus and Mike met at the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. Despite their exceptionally different backgrounds, they bonded immediately and spent the next two years drinking beer, cutting class, and watching bad movies together. By the end of their grad program, they'd pulled their heads out of the sand far enough to realize they wanted to take on a creative project together - they'd made short videos in the past, but they wanted to focus their efforts on something of a larger scope and purpose. Mike knew Tyler through his day job, and when Tyler heard about the greater vision of this documentary, he jumped on board. Marcus and Mike's classmates, Geoff and Eden, heard about the project and decided to lend their creative talents to the film as well.  

"Staring Up from the Mine Shaft" began as a hazy idea in a conversation about Marcus's life growing up. After some crowdfunding, planning, writing, and many, many trips to West Virginia, the documentary has become a reality. We're proud to have the opportunity to shed some light on the disappearing coal towns of West Virginia and the people whose lives have been defined by the industrial backbone of their Appalachian communities.