Oxyana

The town of Oceana in West Virginia has come to be called Oxyana because of its residents’ addiction to prescription painkillers. After the collapse of coal mining there was no work left, and the trade in pills moved into the empty space. The documentary lets the townspeople speak for themselves, without decoration and without judgement; they talk about the people they have lost, how they get through their days and whether there is any way out. Sean Dunne’s seventy eight minute production takes place in an abandoned mining landscape and its music is by Deer Tick. It screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013, where Dunne was named best new documentary director and the film took a special jury mention in the best documentary feature category.