Documentary Film Screening, Discussion, and Fundraiser

Tickets will be for sale soon for Last Hat in Town.

Last Hat in Town  cronicles the transformation of the Rocky Mountains from wide-open ranch land to a patchwork of natural gas drilling sites.  Three very unique men are struggling to find new ways to live in this changing landscape.   In an intimately interactive direct-cinema style, Soul Fabric Films tells their stories.  The closely observed details of their struggles accumulate to a complex and heart-rending story of the loss of a way of life.

It is boom-time in the Rocky Mountains. The rush to extract trillions of cubic feet of natural gas in Colorado has forever altered these romanticized landscapes as well as the people who have lived here for generations.

Last Hat in Town chronicles a year in the life of three western icons as their livelihoods are radically affected by the booming gas industry.

Nathan claims he was born to be a roughneck in the gas fields. Addicted to crystal methamphetamine, which is spreading through these rural communities at epidemic levels, Nathan is incarcerated in the county’s community correctional facility. With the odds against him, he attempts to break his fierce addiction, reconnect with his young daughter, and get back to work on the gas rigs.

Steve is a third generation Colorado rancher. His ailing cattle business is kept afloat by money from his gas drilling leases. Yet, the gas industry’s impact on his land is further hampering his efforts to raise cattle. As the drought intensifies and the gas wells multiply, he is forced to consider radical business alternatives for his family’s massive land holdings.

T. Ray is a vagabond cowboy poet living in a twenty-one foot RV he calls “the tin tipi.” Nearing 60, he hasn’t bucked a bale or broken a horse in a few years.  His weathered Stetson, massive mustache and seasoned voice give his wry lyrics about his dying lifestyle unmatched potency. He yearns to find a place to call home where he doesn’t wear the last hat in town.

Selected Reviews:
“This portrait of a changing West is a film essay that lingers to reflect on a barren landscape, a subject's conflicted impulses, a searching, open pastiche that questions what it sees more than insists on telling us what it knows.  How refreshing.”

- Frederick Marx , Award winning "Hoop Dreams" Director
“The transition from the Old West to the New West has not always been kind nor pretty.  Soul Fabric Films has focused on the Real West. All the warts and pimples are here. Rather than spoon-feed its message, Last Hat in Town challenges viewers to recognize problems and ponder solutions. Without this process we risk slip sliding further down a trail toward a society that decidedly does not match the Western scene.”
- Professor Roderick Frazier Nash, author of “Wilderness and the American Mind” 
 
"This beautiful and emotionally resonant film tells the story of individuals struggling to shape their lives in a Western landscape ravaged by petroleum extraction.  What is most extraordinary about Last Hat in Town is the depth and intimacy of the filmmaker's relationship with his subjects.  Viewers get to know and care about each of the film's characters, and, in the process, come to a complex understanding of the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the shift from ranching to drilling."
- Adele Horne, director of "The Tailenders,"-  2007 Spirit Award winner

Event Contact:
Jason
jason@cecenviro.org
970-243-0002