The People in the Film
No single version
of Anniston
The film is built from accounts that meet, diverge, and complicate one another. Together, they reveal a story no single witness or institution can contain.
Founder, Community Against Pollution
David Baker
A former union worker and the founder of Community Against Pollution, Baker began asking questions after his brother's death and concerns about white residue in his neighborhood. His work helped bring Anniston's private chemical record into public view.
Executive Director, Coosa Riverkeeper
Justinn Overton
The film's present-day guide. Overton follows the story beyond the plant fence, through water testing, agency meetings, and the creeks and rivers carrying Anniston's history downstream.
Community activist and Anniston resident
Shirley Carter
Carter remembers the years of organizing and the divisions that followed the settlement. Her account asks who was heard, who benefited, and who still felt left outside the resolution.
Anniston resident
Cheryl Rein
Rein speaks about illness, family, and the shock of learning that the risks surrounding her neighborhood had a history she had never been told.
Historian and author of Baptized in PCBs
Ellen Griffith Spears
Spears explains how the structure of a company town shaped what could be said, who was believed, and why Anniston's public story took decades to change.
Environmental health scientist and PCB expert
Dr. David Carpenter
Carpenter explains how PCBs move through food chains, accumulate in body fat, and complicate any simple measure of exposure, injury, or closure.
Community relations representative, Eastman Chemical
Gayle Harris
Representing the current owner of the former Solutia and Monsanto facility, Harris describes present-day remediation and the company's request to be judged by the work happening now.
EPA remedial project manager
Pam Scully
Scully explains the technical world of records of decision, five-year reviews, cleanup standards, and federal oversight, where progress is measured differently than it is in a neighborhood.
Archival footage
Johnnie Cochran
Cochran's arrival marks the moment Anniston's local struggle became a national legal story. The settlement he helped secure remains both a milestone and a subject of debate.
Interview videos will appear here as they are cleared for release. Portraits are shown as monograms until final stills are approved.