Communicating Regional Resilience: Filmmaker Tom Hansell

Stories of Appalachian identity and community strength are often told by those who know how to listen first.

In the first installment of our new Communicating Regional Resilience series, AppSciComm welcomes filmmaker, author, and educator Tom Hansell, who will share insights from decades of storytelling that centers cultural identity and community trust.

Drawing from his acclaimed film and book After Coal, Hansell will explore how storytellers can build meaningful relationships with communities that have historically been misrepresented or overlooked. Tom Hansell is a filmmaker, author, and educator whose work focuses on rural communities in southern Appalachia.  His documentary work has screened at the Museum of Modern Art and has been included in the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. He began his career at the Appalshop media arts center, and he currently teaches at Appalachian State University.