We had a GREAT time sharing and discussing some preview clips of Inversion with an eager audience earlier this month at the Pittsburgh Documentary Salon. I am so grateful for all the encouraging comments, useful feedback, and good conversation all around. We even heard a couple tears were shed. So grateful to everybody who showed up!
Special shout out to the Documentary Salon organizer, Will Zavala, who invited me to share my work. Please check out the Documentary Salon website if you’re interested in documentary filmmaking in general: https://pghdocsalon.blogspot.com . We also had reusable Dianne’s Dishware for the snacks: https://www.facebook.com/DiannesDishware/.
It has been quite a while since my last update, but I wanted to send a note to check in and let you know that things are still moving along towards the long-awaited moment when I finally release Inversion. I appreciate your patience. Here is the latest news:
I am working with a rough cut of the film that is a little longer than my target duration of 90 minutes. It tells several air quality stories woven through a primary story arc of the Clairton Coke Works fire and aftermath.
I have some animated sequences layered into the film, along with lots and lots of broll (non-interview visual footage). I have some draft narration layered in, too.
I’m currently layering in some “stats and facts” as I like to call them, all while I revisit the narration across the whole film to make it all resonate. I’ll also add some updated music created by my friend and collaborator, Michael Dodin. After that I’ll add some additional animations. I have some budget set aside for some final animations and motion graphics, and have the artist on deck waiting for the assignments. Those should add some cohesive polish to the overall look of the film.
As I gradually wrap up those elements, I’ll start pre-screening portions of the film with select community members for important feedback – starting next week! (See event details here) I’ll also need to do a fair amount of fact checking, legal review, and preparation of the final credits. If any of you know a professional documentary fact checker, I’d love to connect with them.
Then once all the stats/facts/animations/narrations/credits are all in there (and anything else I realize I need to add before calling it done), I’ll start rolling out the film via some combination of local screenings, online screenings, and film festivals (if I can get it accepted).
There is a process, it is just slower than I hoped it would be.
I have high hopes that the film will inspire, inform, and help propel our community to a cleaner, greener, and more cohesive future. I thank you for your interest in this project and for walking along this journey with me.
Sincerely yours,
Mark Dixon Director/Producer Inversion: The Unfinished Business of Pittsburgh’s Air
PUSHBACK: Mark Dixon’s Air Pollution and Climate Advocacy
“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion…” – EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, March 12, 2025
Nearly lost among the tumult of the second Trump presidency is a building assault on the environment. But most Americans are concerned about climate change and the earth.* And some are actively defending it, like Mark Dixon.
Mark is a filmmaker and activist using documentary to explore environmental problems and solutions at the local and global levels. At this month’s Salon, he’ll provide a deep dive into the events surrounding the 2018 fire at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. The talk will include a discussion of his process and excepts from his upcoming film Inversion: The Unfinished Business of Pittsburgh’s Air. After a catastrophic fire at the Clairton plant pushed the region’s air quality from bad to worse, decades of grassroots organizing come to fruition as the community rallies to assert its right to clean air.
Next week I’ll be the featured presenter at Pittsburgh’s Documentary Salon, where I plan to pre-screen some Inversion Documentary clips and talk about my climate activism. I’d love to see you there. Details below, courtesy of the post at the Doc Salon website: https://pghdocsalon.blogspot.com/2025/04/april-2025-at-salon.html
The Doc Salon is a film society founded in Pittsburgh in 2006. We meet monthly to view and discuss nonfiction films that are screening at local venues, and view members’ work at a lovely space at WQED-TV.
PUSHBACK: Mark Dixon’s Air Pollution and Climate Advocacy
“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion…”
– EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, March 12, 2025
Nearly lost among the tumult of the second Trump presidency is a building assault on the environment. But most Americans are concerned about climate change and the earth.* And some are actively defending it, like Mark Dixon.
Mark is a filmmaker and activist using documentary to explore environmental problems and solutions at the local and global levels. At this month’s Salon, he’ll provide a deep dive into the events surrounding the 2018 fire at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. The talk will include a discussion of his process and excepts from his upcoming film Inversion: The Unfinished Business of Pittsburgh’s Air. After a catastrophic fire at the Clairton plant pushed the region’s air quality from bad to worse, decades of grassroots organizing come to fruition as the community rallies to assert its right to clean air.
INVERSION 