A Washington journalist told us that Carter’s energy legislation was going to be one of the fiercest battles ever in Congress. We had just had a huge energy crisis, long gas lines and everything else, so we thought we’d look into that. Barry Direnfeld and Thomas Susman, Senate aides at the time, will appear with Hegedus at a post screening Q&A.įilmmaker: Can you talk about how this project began?Ĭhris Hegedus: Penny had been on the NEA panel and heard from someone there that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting had grant money for a film about politics and Congress. The recently restored The Energy War Part 2: Filibuster will be screening at DOC NYC on November 13 as part of its “Luminaries” program. Pennebaker and Hegedus would go on to make The War Room, among several other documentaries. The Energy War was the basis of a course at Harvard, and later toured 32 countries under the auspices of the United States Information Agency.
įinanced in part by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the series appeared on PBS. The three directors worked with cinematographers including Cathy Olian, Joel deMott, Jeff Kreines, Ross McElwee, Michel Negroponte, and longtime associate Nick Doob. The series was shot over a two-year period, in Washington, DC, but also in Texas, California, and wherever else the story took the filmmakers.
Over the following days, a counter filibuster begins. Two Senators, Howard Metzenbaum and James Abourezk, announce a filibuster to overturn the results.
It passed by a vote of 52–48, thanks largely to votes from representatives of energy-producing states like Louisiana. One segment, Part 2: Filibuster, focuses on Part D of Statute 1469, which would end government regulation of natural gas prices. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, and Pat Powell, the series provided an unprecedented look at the inner workings of government. Originally released in 1978 as a three-part, five-hour series, The Energy War follows the passage of a key piece of President Jimmy Carter’s energy bill.