Clicky

SLIFF 2015 Interview: Tony West – Director of THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE – We Are Movie Geeks

Interview

SLIFF 2015 Interview: Tony West – Director of THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE

By  | 

tonywest-header

THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE screens Wednesday, November 11th at 7pm at St. Louis University’s Center for Global Citizenship (3672 West Pine Mall St. Louis, MO 63108) as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Director Tony West will be in attendance. Admission is free.

World War II’s Manhattan Project required the refinement of massive amounts of uranium, and St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt took on the job. As a result, the chemical company’s employees would become some of the most contaminated nuclear workers in history. Tony West’s new documentary THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE both explores that legacy — St. Louis is still coping with the fallout of creating some of the world’s first nuclear waste — and tells the story of nuclear workers both past and present.

safe2

Tony West took the time to answer some questions about his film for We Are Movie Geeks

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman

We Are Movie Geeks: What was your filmmaking experience prior to THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE? Is this your first feature-length documentary?

Tony West: This is my first Feature-length documentary as a director/writer.  I had worked on documentaries in the past that were produced by others, but as a videographer or sound tech. My background is in television, and early on I did mostly network news and commercials.  Most of my work these days comes from covering sports like Major League Baseball, Hockey and the NFL. My news background was what really helped me produce the documentary.

WAMG: What inspired you to make this film about the nuclear waste problem in Missouri?

TW: I met an investigative reporter named Carl Stelzer who had written a story about contamination in Venice IL  at the former Dow plant.  We looked into doing a documentary about Venice, but the more I learned about the history on the St. Louis side of the river the more I felt that the story had to be expanded.  Meeting the workers really motivated me do get involved.  They were mostly older gentalmen that were struggling with various illnesses that they believed were work related.They were all really nice people and I just wanted to do something to help them.

safe5

WAMG: Did you grow up with an interest in movies or are you more of an environmental activist expressing your views with your film?

TW: My older brother Marlon was the one that was into film at an early age.  He talked my parents into getting him a film camera around the age of 12 and he began making stop action films.  I was his little assistant.Marlon was an inspiration for me.  By the time we got to High school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study in college.  Marlon asked me “what do you like to do?”  I told him “I like to play sports and watch TV” He said, “why don’t you go to the library and get a book on television and see if that’s something you want to do?”  Once I saw the pictures of studios and cameras I was hooked. I went into television and Marlon became a Disney animator. I’m also interested in protecting the environment so I figured I could use my production skills to help start a national conversation about these issues.

WAMG: Who are some documentary (or narrative) filmmakers that you admire?

TW: I’m a fan of Ken Burns.  I like how he is not afraid to tell the whole story, good, bad and ugly.  Jazz and Baseball were standouts for me.  I loved “The Cove” and “The Kid Stays in The Picture”  are other doc’s I enjoyed. As a director of photography I can’t help but admire the work of filmmakers Wes Anderson,  and then there are my classic heroes like Billy Wilder.  Just too many to name.  I’m a film freak.

safe4

WAMG: What were some of the particular challenges you encountered making THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE?

TW: Wow, where do I start?When you are dealing with events that occurred as far back as 70 years, unfortunately there are not many workers who are still around to tell that story first hand.  That’s another reason why I felt it was important to do this story now. I wanted their voices preserved in history. In some cases security guards of plants would try to stop me from shooting near their property (I would be on a public street).  Some companies claimed they had to be cautious  because of terrorism.  In my view that can become a convenient way to prevent you from doing journalism that may be unflattering to the company. There are also people in the film that are dead set against any kind of nuclear and there are nuclear workers in the film that obviously have the opposite view.  They want to work in a safer work-place but don’t want their job to go away. I had to strike a balance between those opposing views. The biggest challenge was how to educate people on these subjects without panicking them.  I don’t want people to run screaming from the theater after watching this film, I want them to calmly walk out and discuss these important issues from a more enlightened position.

WAMG: THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE is amazingly well-researched. How long did it take you to get it all together?

TW: I started back in 2010 so a little over 4 years.  I didn’t have much funding so I had to do this project around my paid work.  I also didn’t have an army of people I could send out looking for stuff so I had to do much of it myself. I had people like Dr. Denise DeGarmo, Kay Drey, Wendy Verhoff and Denise Brock who had been researching this subject long before me that I could work with also. I had a great deal of help from Chris Ballew who worked with me on his spare time.  Chris found many important documents that I may not have ever found on my own.

safe6

WAMG: Much of the footage, like Enrico Fermi’s first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile 1, is fascinating. Where did you dig up this archival footage and was there footage you were looking for but were unable to find?

TW: I used websites that specialize in historical footage. Their search engines were very crude so I would spend hours looking through clips that had little to do with my search sometimes.  I would have liked to have found footage of the refining process here in St. Louis during the Manhattan Project but with that project being as secretive as it was it’s understandable that pickings were slim.

WAMG: What was it like taking a tour of Weldon Springs, an area once so badly contaminated, as it exists today? Was it weird? Were there other people there?

TW: It was very weird going into the quarry itself.  Standing in that very spot where I had seen pictures of those barrels dumped.  I was a little uneasy about it but I wanted to get the shot and I was curious to see what it looked like now. In the end I trusted Dr. DeGarmo, who had been to the site many times.  We spent the whole day with Dr. DeGarmo going to sites all over the St. Louis.  I think she calls it “The Atomic Tour” There where many people riding on the Katy Bike trail but the quarry itself is off the beaten path.  We were the only ones back there which made it a little more spooky.

safe1

WAMG: Were there people that you tried to get involved in the film that did not want to speak to you?

TW: The lockout was still going on in Metropolis when we got there and the primary goal of the worker was to get back to work (albeit in a safer work place).  They were put in a tough position, speaking their minds to us on camera might jeopardize them getting back in, but they also wanted their stories told.  Many workers spoke to us off camera about what it was like to be inside the plant.  One told me, I don’t want to die inside this plant, but this is how I provide for my family. As you can imagine, I really wanted that line in the film but I respected this man’s fragile position.  I went there to help those workers not to mess things up for them.

WAMG: Did you try and contact any current representatives of Mallinckrodt to get their take on the story?

TW: No, I was more interested in people who were there at the time.  Once I had letters and documents from representatives who were there in the 40’s I preferred their first hand accounts.

safe7

WAMG: I had heard about the burning waste in Bridgeton, but was unclear of its origin until I watched your film. What would you like to see happen, perhaps legislatively, to address this problem?

TW: It would be ideal if the waste were to be removed from the landfill and disposed of properly but I don’t think that is as easy as many think.  Once people see the film, they will understand just how difficult it is to remove all traces of this material once it has been dumped in the wrong place.  If they decide to remove it, will their clean up be good enough?  Will people say, ‘Hey, there is still some in there”.  I would like to see more focus on the system that allows people to get away with dumping these materials in the first place.  This isn’t the only landfill like this.  We need to fix these problems on the front end because once they get to this stage there are no easy answers. It’s important to point out that the EPA has 5 air monitoring stations in the area and they post the results online for the public to see.

safe3

WAMG: How has THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE been received so far, especially by the people involved such as Denise Brock and Kay Drey?

TW: Denise and Kay both love the film.  I knew Kay before I started this project and have always respected her work in the community.  She has fought her whole life to make this a better planet that we can all share, and to hear her praise my work was one of the proudest moments of my career.  I can’t say enough about Denise Brock and how many lives she has touched with her work.  To have her and the workers be so moved by the film is truly satisfying.

WAMG: Tell me about your next project?

TW: At this point I don’t have another project in mind,  but I didn’t have one in mind when this came along either.  I guess I will wait and see.