Music and Sound Design by Toney Merritt
Additional Cinematography by Alanna Zrimsek

This is an environmental film. A visual essay of a superfund site located in Butte Montana. An acid lake formed as a result of an abandoned strip mine.

Production format: 16mm, HD Video

"In Bigger Than Us, Dominic Angerame brings us closer to what looks like the sublime spectacle of nature, but is in fact a man-made environmental hazard: a massive, scenic lake filled with water so acidic that it turns once one of the world's largest mining enterprises into one of the deadliest places on earth. Today managed as a Superfund site tied to Montana's mining history, the Berkeley Pit in Angerame's film is a complex, multilayered and ambiguous phenomenon. While Butte's desolate, haunting landscape is a remnant of the city's postindustrial legacy, walking through the eerie tunnel provides a more personal and radically different experience firmly rooted in the present and punctuated by Toney Merritt's ominous original score. It leads to the viewing platform where the pit's emerald green waters blend with the crystal blue sky overlooking the stunning, surreal scenery. Reflecting the "danger in filming danger" Angerame experienced when shooting at the edge of the abyss, the Berkeley Pit is not just the former site of the Anaconda Copper Mine and Butte's popular tourist attraction, but a constant reminder of the environmental challenges we are facing in the Anthropocene." --Kornelia Boczkowska


" .. but this one feels (in your film) as if it is sitting very heavily on the lives and minds of the people of Butte. What a strange place to live. The journey down the tunnel feels like a passage to Hell -- which turns out to be a tourist platform! ... The sunlight and brief glimpse of small flowers do suggest that something bigger (and better) than us might eventually prevail. But not without a lot of harm first. It makes me think, too, of the constant political talk these days about all the "rare earth minerals" that are needed, especially for maintaining massive computer systems / AI, etc. We will no doubt be doing massive further damage to the planet. People need to talk about this more -- and I hope some of them will see your film."--Marilyn Brakhage