This article is from the forthcoming winter 2025 edition of Mobile Baykeeper’s print quarterly, CURRENTS. The magazine is mailed to active members who have given more than $50 in the past year. To get on the magazine’s mailing list, donate here.
By Caine O’Rear
Sallie’s Ashes is a short documentary film by Brennan Robideaux that tells the story of the late Sarah “Sallie” Smith, a Fairhope resident who battled terminal cancer as she led the Coal Ash Action Group, a.k.a. “The Coal Ash Grannies,” in their efforts to see 21 million tons of coal ash removed from the banks of the Mobile River.
Recently, we spoke with Robideaux at length about his film, which debuted this summer at the Telluride Film Festival and has gone on to be nominated for “Best Short Documentary” by the Critic’s Choice Documentary Awards. Sallie’s Ashes will make its regional debut on November 13 at the Fairhope Film Festival.
In this interview, Robideaux elaborates on the inspiration he drew from Sallie’s remarkable life and the women behind the “Coal Ash Action Group” (Sallie, Diane Thomas, and Savan Wilson), and how it’s not always the loudest voices in the room that make the deepest, most lasting impressions.
When did you first learn about coal ash in the Mobile Delta?
I didn’t know anything about coal ash, regardless of if it was in the Delta or not. I had never even heard of the term. My previous documentary was a feature that took many, many years. It was a seven-year long process. So I was kind of coming off of that one, starting to look for new projects when I reconnected with a producer friend of mine who had heard a little blurb from Alabama Public Radio by Cori Yonge on NPR about these incredible women who were doing this very interesting thing. And he said, this is very interesting — don’t you live in the South? He was in California at the time. And I thought, what an incredible story. And so that was pretty much it. That introduced me to the concept and to the women at the same time.
Documentary filmmakers are always on the lookout or reading the news just to see what’s out there — the stories that aren’t really highlighted. This was one I hadn’t heard anything about. And then paired with the story of these women, it definitely jumped out at me.
Did you reach out to the Coal Ash Action Group after that?
We reached out immediately to the group. They emailed back and set up a Zoom call. They told us if that you if you’re interested in doing a documentary, you better do it soon, because our dear leader, Sallie, has terminal cancer. That was all I needed as far as motivation to start filming. So, my local producer, Allison DeHart, and I traveled to Mobile and Fairhope two days later. And that’s when we started filming.
What was your impression of Sallie when you first met her?
She was a force to be reckoned with. That’s pretty much the shortest description of her that I think is apt. She was incredibly kind, but she was a woman on a mission. She wowed me every day — knowing what she was going through, knowing the pain that she was in, but still being willing to fight for a cause that was so important to her.
I learned how important she was to other people, as well as being someone that had involved herself in so many different causes and fought for positive change in her community her entire life. So, I was extremely drawn to this woman. I can’t fathom how much pain she was in, but I could only imagine that for her to be willing to go for it was incredible. And then the fact that she was 80 and still doing it, in her later years, was just awesome.
Early in the film Sallie says she’s felt connected to the water since she was a young child, which explains one of the reasons she was so committed to this goal. How did making this film impact the way you felt about our natural world and our responsibility to protect it?
What struck me and my producers was how in love with the water everyone in the film was, and how much the Bay and the Delta meant to them. It became such a central point of the film and was extremely important for me to highlight, even to the to the extent that there are small sound effects throughout the film that are water-related, which help show the connective tissue of water throughout all these people’s lives.
Making the film opened my eyes to the communities that live on the water, that appreciate the water for recreation. But then there are people that are subsistence fishermen fishing in these same waters, and there are people that enjoy it for family time, along with the industries that are affected by it, so it connects to everything. That was really remarkable.
One of the things that I was moved by in the film was when Sallie quotes a poem written by her grandson where the kid says, “I am the crabs. I am the fish.” You understand that Sallie sees her relationship with the water as a generational thing that she hopes to pass on. So, the story becomes bigger than just the current moment.
I forget exactly how the adage goes but it’s the idea that, “The future is shaped by people who plant trees under which shade they’ll never sit.” And these women benefited from that. The waters were protected for them. And the reality was that even if they were successful in their endeavors, it’s still going to be a very long process. And yet they were still willing to do it. They just embodied that adage and embodied the spirit of doing something not for yourself, but for future generations. That poem in the film, to me, became such a beautiful moment because it encapsulated that whole theme in such an incredible way.
I’m guessing that many of the people seeing this film are learning about coal ash for the first time. Has that been your impression?
I think that’s the case for many people. These women did such a good job with introducing something to those that wouldn’t necessarily be the audience for, quote unquote, an environmental film. And they knew that by trying to take the politics out of it, they could say, “This is an important thing for our community.” And I’m not trying to convert you politically. I wanted the film to reflect their mentality that they were not trying to cast away people. They were not trying to preach to their own choir. They were trying to bridge gaps between people. The film is an open door because of the charm of these women, because of how funny they are and how welcoming they are. It makes you want to know about them, and then through them you’re able to learn about this issue.
It really comes down to that human element and their story.
And I do want to say, before I forget, that this film would not be possible without Mobile Baykeeper. These women wouldn’t not have even been able to do what they did without Mobile Baykeeper. It was Baykeeper that did the work that allowed them to thrive and allow this film to be made. The story is “Sallie’s Ashes,” and it’s about these women, but the truth of the matter is that it’s a much broader story.
Have you heard from Alabama Power about the film? Do you know if they’re aware of it?
I don’t know if they’re aware of the film, other than the fact that we reached out for comment multiple times, and we never heard a response back from them. And so, if their PR person read those emails and then chose not to respond, that’s one thing — and so they perhaps are aware of it. We reached out to ADEM as well. ADEM ignored our request for an interview and basically just sent us the link to the previous public comments. So, we were unable to get anyone on camera that was willing to talk about it, unfortunately.
I think Diane said it well in the film, which is that they’re not here to bash Alabama Power. What Diane and Savan and Sallie are trying to say is this thing is just not okay. They’re not saying that Alabama Power is an evil company. They’re saying, “You do a lot of good things, but this thing is unacceptable, and you should acknowledge it.”
What do you hope this film accomplishes? And where do you see it going from here?
I want to introduce people to these incredible women and show that age is just a number and that it’s never too late to fight for something if you really believe in it, so I hope that it can inspire people young and old.
You know, these women are not your typical activists, and there’s something to be learned from that, right? These are women who have gone through a lot of life, love, loss, and are yet still willing to fight for something that’s important to them. But they’re able to come at it through someone who has lived all this life. And, to me, those are some of the most incredible voices. So, in a way, I hope that the film reminds us that sometimes it’s not the loudest voices, you know, but possibly those that we discount whose voice sometimes can carry the greatest weight. And I think that’s what these women really embody. They were not there shouting. They were there to show that people who have lived all this life feel very strongly about something. And that means a lot more, I think, than perhaps others sometimes.
I hope it makes people aware that you have an opportunity to make a difference in your local community. And so, if that happens locally, but in a bunch of different places, then all of a sudden, it’s happening nationally. And I think that’s really cool. Where it’s going to go from here, I’m not sure. I think the festival circuit is going to be really good for the film. And, you know, I became friends with Sallie, and to me it’s very important to honor her legacy.
Take Action and sign the petition telling Alabama Power to move the ash: https://mobilebaykeeper.org/programs/coal-ash/
