Grandmothers Battle to Save Mobile Bay in 'Sallie's Ashes'

Sallie Smith in "Sallie's Ashes" doesn't know how to retire.

"When I see something that's a problem, it tends to call my name... and once it's done that, I need to see it through," the 80-year-old from Alabama admits."

The problem now is threatening her beloved Mobile Bay. Alabama Power's "Plant Barry" – Southern Alabama's largest coal-fired power plant – has been depositing its waste ash into an unlined pit next to the plant for decades. It's a ticking time bomb; if the levees were to be breached, 21 million tons of toxic ash would be released into the Mobile River and Bay.

Sallie recruits fellow retirees Diane Thomas and Savan Wilson to her cause, and together they set off on a late-life crusade to try and force the plant – and the EPA – to move the ash to safer ground.

But Sallie is racing against more than one clock. The cancer she once beat has returned and metastasized. With only months to live, can she and her friends pull off one final fi ght for their community, the bay, and for the generations to come?

"The original pitch from my producer Daniel Junge was irresistible: a small group of grandmothers in Alabama have banded together to fight for the future of their beloved Mobile Bay," said Brennan Robideaux, the film's director and producer. "The target was a toxic coal ash pit perched on the banks of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, threatening to poison one of the most biodiverse regions in the country.

"And as a filmmaker, my immediate excitement was about capturing the journey of a few determined grannies as they learned to build a website, create social media accounts and speak out at public events; all in an effort to build a coalition who would care as much about this looming environmental crisis as they did," he said.

"Daniel knew that I lived in Louisiana and said he would help me produce the film if I wanted to direct it. Within a day, he had set up a Zoom call with Sallie Smith, Diane Thomas and Savan Wilson, the three women in charge of this movement who were eager to have us document their journey. Together, they called themselves the Coal Ash Action Group.

"But very quickly we learned that beyond the charm and inspiration of these women lay an even more profound one. That came when Sallie, the head of their group, bluntly told us that if we wanted to make a documentary, we'd better do it soon, as she had just been diagnosed with cancer for the second time – this one being much more severe than the first.

"I called the only person I knew would be willing to drop everything and join me on a crazy idea, my creative collaborator Allison Bohl DeHart, and together we journeyed to Mobile Alabama the next day.

"The women were everything we could have hoped for: funny, charming, and disarmingly sharp. But Sallie's illness, ever-present in the background, layered the film with urgency. This wasn't just a story about coal ash and activism; it became a film about purpose, dignity, and joy at the end of life, even when the odds are stacked against you.

"When shooting a documentary, I'm constantly aware of the intrusive nature of our business, but this one was different. We were asking a dying woman to let us into the most intimate and difficult time of her life. There was a lot of hesitation I felt in pushing too far or asking too much of her. But it was Sallie who was the bold one, inviting me to every moment. Her strength and openness is the heart of this film.

"But the most salient layer of the story came during our second interview with Sallie –when she shifted the conversation away from coal ash entirely. 'Aging is very lonely,' she said as she laid on her couch with her eyes staring at the ceiling. 'And nobody likes to talk about it...because I don't think people really know that they are lonely.'

"In that moment, it became clear: these women were not the 'typical' environmental activists. They were Southern grandmothers who had lived long and complex lives full of love, loss, illness and caregiving; yet still chose to take on a fight bigger than themselves. They demanded attention not because their voices were loud but because their lived experience carried the gravity of battles they'd already fought.

"As a young environmentalist says in the film, 'When a couple of grandmothers, one of which has late-stage terminal cancer, come in and tell you 'this is a big deal', it just hits different.'

"At its core, 'Sallie's Ashes' is not just about coal ash. It's a reminder that the most unlikely voices can carry the greatest weight; and that sometimes, the fight for the future rests in the hands of those who know they won't live to see it."

"Sallie's Ashes" is still on the film festival circuit and not yet available for streaming. Watch for updates on http://www.justwatch.com/us/movies.