EXCLUSIVE: An award-winning documentary about the woman known as “the Russian Erin Brockovich” is getting support from… the real Erin Brockovich.
The environmental activist famously portrayed by Julia Roberts on screen has signed on as an executive producer of Black Snow, which traces the evolution of Natalia Zubkova from housewife to whistleblower. Brockovich attended the U.S. premiere of the film Thursday night at DOC NYC, along with director Alina Simone, Academy Award-nominated producer Kirstine Barfod, editor Aleks Gezentsvey, and other members of the filmmaking team. Black Snow screens again today at DOC NYC.
Natalia Zubkova reports on an environmental disaster in ‘Black Snow’
Courtesy Alina Simone
The documentary premiered at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen earlier this year, winning the festival’s prestigious F:ACT AWARD. It also won the Sustainable Future Award at the Sydney Film Festival in Australia.
A synopsis of the film notes, “When residents of a remote Siberian coal mining city discover that an abandoned mine has caught fire, pushing toxic gas into their homes, they turn to homemaker-turned-journalist Natalia Zubkova for help. But after her news coverage of the coal fire goes viral, the government launches a massive effort to cover up the truth. In the shadow of an increasingly authoritarian government, Natalia embarks on a dangerous quest to reveal the full extent of the environmental catastrophe unfolding in her midst. Filmed over the course of four turbulent years in Russia and eastern Europe, this taut and revelatory eco-thriller shines new light on the human cost of coal and the clandestine tactics of Russia’s modern surveillance state.”
In a statement, Brockovich commented, “The film revealed the vast reach of these environmental issues and the extraordinary lengths a mother will go to protect her children, family, and community. Black Snow reminds us that we are all connected through our environment, and it’s a global concern that affects us all.”
Simone, a Ukrainian-born journalist, makes her directorial debut with Black Snow. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian Long Read, The Atlantic and NPR, among many others.
“From day one, we saw Natalia’s inspiring quest for environmental justice as an ‘Erin Brockovich story’ and marveled at the parallels between one mother from Kansas and another from Kiselyovsk,” Simone observed. “Having Erin join our team as an executive producer feels, well, kind of like a Hollywood dream.”
(L-R) E.P. Erin Brockovich, producer Kirstine Barfod, director Alina Simone, editor Aleks Gezentsvey attend the U.S. premiere of ‘Black Snow’ at DOC NYC
@Vane Lopera Photography
Barfod earned an Academy Award nomination and a Peabody Award for producing The Cave, the Syria-focused documentary directed by Feras Fayyad. The native of Denmark founded Nordland Pictures in 2022, a production company based in New York.
DOC NYC programmer Bedatri D. Choudhury writes of Black Snow, “When we read profiles of courage in newspapers, we probably don’t read of Natalia Zubkova. A citizen journalist and mother, Zubkova is an army of one who first exposes and then fights the rampant corruption of the Russian government and its coal mafia, despite surveillance, harassment, and threats. In this investigative thriller, witness the story of an environmental warrior who risks it all in her pursuit of justice and accountability from an authoritarian regime.”
Black Snow is supported by Catapult Film Fund, the Redford Center, IDA, Sara’s Wish Foundation, Justice for Journalists, Mountain Film, Film Independent, SVT, Burnt Umber Productions, Doc Society and the Gotham Film & Media Institute.
The film is currently seeking U.S. distribution; Cinephil is representing worldwide rights.