This is a film about labor, transition, and identity across all sectors of American energy—legacy and green, present and future.
American Power is a film for the people who keep the country running.
It’s for solar installers, wind turbine techs, battery storage engineers, inverter specialists, and the crews who build and maintain solar and wind farms. It’s for coal miners, oil rig workers, natural gas technicians, pipeline crews, and refinery operators.
It’s for linemen and women restoring power after storms, grid operators watching the system in real time, and utility workers keeping the lights on. It’s for those running hydropower stations, geothermal fields, and community solar projects.
It’s for people in training—students in technical schools, apprentices, veterans learning new trades, and laid-off workers retraining for the jobs of tomorrow.
It’s for the families who carry the emotional load: the partners, the parents, the childcare providers, and the community members holding it all together behind the scenes.
Who We’re Looking For
People working across all energy sectors
Workers in training programs or learning new skills and seasoned workers near retirement
Individuals, families, and small business owners connected to the energy sector
People with diverse backgrounds, ages, religions, and experiences
Why Participate?
Help tell a real, human story about the people doing the work
Share your unique perspective—no scripts, no spin
Be part of a nationwide portrait of American labor and identity
We’ll work with you to make participation easy and respectful of your time
About Elaine McMillion Sheldon
Elaine McMillion Sheldon (director) is an Academy Award-nominated, Peabody-winning, and two-time Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker based in West Virginia. Raised in the southern part of the state, in a region shaped by coal mining, she has long been interested in the ways energy, work, and place intersect. Her films—including King Coal, Heroin(e), Recovery Boys, Tutwiler, and Hollow—offer nuanced, character-driven portraits of rural life in Appalachia, the South, and other corners of the country often left out of the national conversation.
With American Power, she continues her exploration of the people and communities connected to the country’s energy economy. Her work has screened at major film festivals and on platforms such as PBS, Netflix, and The New York Times. Through observational storytelling, she aims to document the everyday lives of individuals shaping—and shaped by—America’s evolving landscapes. Elaine lives in West Virginia with her husband and cinematographer, Curren Sheldon, and their two sons.