About an hour into This is Not a Drill, the new documentary from director Oren Jacoby, comes a moment that is stark and unsettling. Sitting next to her daughter, Louisiana climate activist Roishetta Ozane asks what she thinks of the LNG (Liquefied natural gas) factories near their house. Her daughter responds: “If you don’t get the industry to stop, that will be the reason the world ends.” For as scary as the answer is, it’s also a hopeful one. Ozane acknowledges as much in her reaction. On one hand, there is the apocalyptic responsibility; on the other, there is the optimism that somebody like Roishetta Ozane can stop an oil company from ending the world as we know it.
Jacoby splits his brief-but-direct film into three narratives. We have Ozane in Lake Charles, Louisiana, becoming engaged with her new community. As she attempts to organize against the gas companies, she and her neighbors must also recover from the recent hurricanes (both Hurricane Laura and Delta hit within weeks in 2020) that have ravaged their town. The hurricanes themselves are a result of climate change, caused in no small part by those very same gas companies.
In Boxtown, Memphis, Justin J. Pearson (Memphis Community Against Pollution) and those in the neighborhood galvanize to prevent Plains All American Pipeline and Valero Energy from building a crude oil pipeline through their town. It all stems from Byhalia agent Wyatt Price saying “we took a point of least resistance” when asked why the planned pipeline would not go through the more affluent communities (and the more direct route) but instead the less-affluent, predominantly Black neighborhoods, e.g. Boxtown. Price’s incredibly honest, incredibly evil answer sparked something in Pearson, who then sparked something in others.
Finally, in Dallas, Sharon Wilson, a former employee of the oil and gas industry, collaborates with local journalists and activists to track down all the evidence she can of dangerous oil-drilling practices, including fracking.
This is Not a Drill runs just 78 minutes before credits. It gets to the point. Jacoby isn’t concerned with convincing anybody that climate change is real; it is real, and we are living through its repercussions at this very moment. Instead, this documentary is about those who are still fighting––these individuals and small groups who persist against corporations that have every possible advantage.
There are appearances from Protect Our Aquifer founder Wade Archer and former Vice President Al Gore praising the work Pearson and his team have done in Memphis. Pearson is now a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. We meet community members attempting to rebuild after storms and others fighting to keep their land under threat of eminent domain. There’s a success that ends one story, some failures in the others. The persistence remains. The ending text, which contextualizes any progress within this new administration, is sobering. This is Not a Drill offers a well-made reminder that this place is still worth fighting for.
This is Not a Drill premiered at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival.
The post Telluride Review: This is Not a Drill Offers a Sharp Highlight of Climate Activists Who Still Fight first appeared on The Film Stage.
