BUTTE, AMERICA Screens At Victoria Theatre 11/6

Former San Francisco based (now in Montana) Emmy-nominated, (ISHI: THE LAST YAHI) Producer/Director Pamela Roberts' new film BUTTE, AMERICA tells the epic tale of Butte, Montana, once the world's largest producer of copper, and known as the town that "plumbed and electrified America," "the Gibraltar of Unionism," the "Pittsburgh of the West."

Co-written by Eugene Corr and Edwin Dobb and narrated by Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, BUTTE, AMERICA brings to life the saga of a world-class mining town where corporate capitalism battled organized labor, Irish and other ethnic groups came together to form a full-blown urban industrial dynamo, and human appetite laid waste to land and water, yielding fortunes for a few and a tragic environmental legacy for the people left behind. These people are the heart of the Butte story - miners, their families, and the working class neighborhoods they created. From battling mine owners to braving the ups and downs of global markets to surviving death, injury, layoffs, and shutdowns, they forged a community whose toughness, tolerance, and solidarity embody the unique spirit of the place called "The Richest Hill on Earth" and speak to what's increasingly missing in American life today.

BUTTE, AMERICA is a Rattlesnake Productions release, runs 67 minutes and is not MPAA rated. Plays in San Francisco on Sat., Nov. 6, 2010 at 8:00 pm at the Victoria Theatre,
2961 16th St. (btwn. Mission & Capp Sts.) San Francisco, CA 94103. Cost: Film only: $15
(Students/$10). Tickets also on sale, as available, night of show! The Victoria Theatre is located a half-block from the 16th Street BART Station

Box Office: To purchase tickets go to: www.victoriatheatre.org for info: 415/ 863-7576
Please join the filmmakers, sponsors, and special guests at a festive pre-show reception at the Victoria Theatre from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Libations, appetizers and traditional Irish music by
The Gas Men. http://gasmenmusic.com/ Pre Reception plus film: $25 (Students/$15).

San Francisco has long enjoyEd Strong ties to Butte. William Randolph Hearst helped convert the ramshackle mining camp into a full-blown industrial city, by bankrolling Marcus Daly, whose mining interests evolved into the international powerhouse, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Many of the Irish immigrants who flooded into Butte during the late 19th and early 20th centuries had family who migrated to San Francisco. Several beloved Irish bars in San Francisco were owned by former Butte residents, including Harrington's Bar & Grill, the oldest Irish bar in the city, which was started by an enterprising Irishman who first landed in Butte after leaving County Cork. Butte, known as the "Gibraltar of Unionism" and birthplace of the Western Federation of Miners (which, in turn, gave birth to the Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW), shares with San Francisco the distinction of being one of the landmarks of the American labor movement.
The San Francisco sponsors are some of the most prominent Irish and organized labor groups in
San Francisco and include: Consul General of Ireland, SF Labor Council, Labor Archives & Research Center (SFSU), Irish Literary and Historical Society, U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and Knight Program for Science and Environmental Journalism.

Pamela Roberts. Producer/director. Co-founder and President of Rattlesnake Productions, formally based in the Bay Area. Her films include Bay Area, Emmy-Nominated "Ishi: The Last Yahi."
Edwin Dobb. Co-producer and co-writer. Lecturer at the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Contributing editor of Harper's Magazine.
Eugene Corr. Co-writer. Nominated for an Academy Award for the documentary film Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey. Has written and directed many films and TV shows. Wrote and directed "Desert Bloom," starring Jon Voight, and which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
Jennifer Chinlund. Editor. Editor of dozens of documentary films, several of which have been broadcast on national PBS programs, such as POV and Independent Lens.
Todd Boekelheid. Composer. Two-time Academy Award-winner, including co-winner for the sound mix on Amadeus. Won an Emmy for his score for Kids of Survival: The Like and Art of Tim Rollins and the KOS.
Tom Meyers. Sound Mixer. All of the sound work was done at Skywalker Studios.
Jane Greenberg. Co-producer and Head of Research

Major funding provided by: National Endowment for the Humanities: Great ideas brought to life • Independent Television & Video Service • M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust • Environmental Protection Agency, Butte • Montana Cultural Trust • The People of Butte. Additional funding was made possible by Butte EPA, Montana Cultural Trust, Montana Committee for Humanities, Montana Department of Commerce, Montana AFL-CIO and friends, People of Butte, and many small foundations and individual contributions.

Butte, America is a co-production of Pamela Roberts and the Independent Television & Video Service (ITVS), produced in association with KUSM-TV/MontanaPBS with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Executive Producer for ITVS is Sally Jo Fifer.

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