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POV presents "Black Snow," the taut and haunting documentary by by first-time director Alina Simone, Oscar®-nominee and Emmy®-winning producer Kirstine Barfod ("The Cave," "Reunited"), and executive produced by renowned environmental activist Erin Brockovich.
Centered on the residents of Kiselyovsk, a remote Siberian coal-mining city —infamously nicknamed the “town with black snow” who discover an abandoned mine fire releasing toxic gas into their homes.
Demanding not a ban on mining, but the basic right to clean air and water, by living at a safe distance from industrial sites and desperate for help, they turn to Natalia Zubkova, a homemaker-turned-journalist, whose fearless reporting brings their struggle to light. But when her video coverage of the disaster goes viral, it triggers a government-led campaign to cover up the truth and silence her.
Natalia embarks on a dangerous quest to reveal the full extent of the environmental catastrophe unfolding in her midst. "Black Snow" exposes the devastating toll of extractive industries on local lives and underscores how this global industry continues to threaten ecosystems and put at risk livelihoods worldwide, all while amplifying the voices of those fighting back.
On June 6, 2019, Kiselyovsk residents made an extraordinary appeal directly to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for environmental asylum. Filmed in a barren field, they explain that an abandoned Soviet mine has caught fire beneath their neighborhood, and families living nearby are grappling with toxic air and contaminated water. Kiselyovsk, one of Russia’s most polluted cities, has been transformed by nine massive open-pit coal mines and three processing plants operating with little oversight, but with tacit government approval.
The video’s source was Natalia Zubkova, a 42-year-old mother of three, whose YouTube channel — consisting mostly of live, self-narrated, cell phone videos — became the town’s only independent news outlet. Convinced that coal pollution caused her own daughters’ health problems, she began investigating the city’s environmental issues despite her coal truck driver husband’s warnings. When fresh snow fell black from unfiltered coal emissions, Zubkova’s critical reporting filled a void left by government-controlled media, making her a target and on the government’s blacklist.
Within 48 hours of publishing the Trudeau appeal, the video was picked up by Alexei Navalny’s network, broadcast on Canada’s CBC news, prompting an official response from the Canadian government and garnering the attention of the state’s powerful governor, Sergei Tsivilev, a coal oligarch married to Putin’s cousin.
Filmed over four turbulent years across Russia and Eastern Europe, "Black Snow" is a revelatory eco-thriller that shines new light on the human cost of coal and the clandestine tactics of Russia’s modern surveillance state.
Filmmaker Quotes:
"In Aug. 2019, I set off to film a maverick journalist who was speaking out about the environmental disaster engulfing her Siberian hometown," said director Alina Simone. “For five years, we hung on to this unbelievable and thrilling story, one that asks hard questions about the real cost of ‘cheap energy’ and the dire sacrifices made by mining communities for its sake."
"POV is a crucial outlet — an escape hatch, even — from stories that have been pre-vetted by algorithms, but rarely encompass the strange, gorgeous, gut-wrenching aspects of life that are as unpredictable as the human heart itself. These tend to be the stories we remember."
Watch On Your Schedule: "Black Snow" will make its national broadcast premiere on Monday, Sept. 25, 2025 in recognition of Environmental Awareness Month. It will be available to stream until Dec. 14, 2025 with KPBS+.
Raves:
"The film revealed the vast reach of these environmental issues and the extraordinary lengths a mother will go to protect her children, family, and community. 'Black Snow' reminds us that we are all connected through our environment, and it’s a global concern that affects us all."— Erin Brockovich, Executive Producer, Black Snow
"...a searing exposé that places ordinary people at the center of a global environmental crisis…”— Screen Daily
“The film is both an eco-thriller, and an awe-inspiring portrait of Russian mother-turned-environmental journalist Natalia Zubkova.”— Annika Pham, Variety
Credits: A production by Nordland Pictures, LLC and Prettier in the Dark Productions, LLC. Alina Simone is the director. The producers are Kirstine Barfod and Alina Simone. The cinematographers are Alina Simone and Natalia Zubkova. The editor is Aleks Gezentsvey. The executive producers are Bill Gerber, Judith Krupp, Alina Simone, Kirstine Barfod and Erika Dilday and Chris White for American Documentary.
