A Documentary Short Film

A JustTransition

A film about renewal, energy, and hope — about reinventing Illinois.

DocumentaryIllinoisIn Production

Directed by Tim Montague

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The Premise

Not a film about solar.A film about reinvention.

Solar array on open farmland Solar on Illinois farmland

Illinois — a state built on coal that became the nuclear capital of the country — is where one question gets answered out loud.

Energy here has never been only about electricity. It has been about jobs, identity, and who gets to decide what comes next. A Just Transition follows the people inside that change — the ones who chose to build something new in the same place, rather than walk away from it.

Can America reinvent itself without abandoning the people who built it?

The question at the center of the film

The Stakes

Power, not panels.

A story of political, economic, and community power — and what ordinary people turn out to be capable of when they decide to force a rigged game open.

Power station infrastructure The old grid

The Rigged Game

The state's largest utility admitted to funneling money to the most powerful politician in Springfield, bending the rules of the energy system in its favor.

The Reckoning

Illinois didn't clean up because the market worked. It cleaned up because people forced the market to work differently.

The Truth

No easy heroes or villains.

01
Coal miners aren't the villains

They built the world the rest of us inherited.

02
Solar developers aren't the heroes

Progress was negotiated, argued over, compromised.

03
Nuclear & renewables

Supposed rivals — funded by the same families.

Hope that ignores sacrifice is a lie. Hope that acknowledges it becomes courage.

The Same Ground

One state, running the experiment in public.

Coal and nuclear and wind and solar share the same horizon here — the old grid and the new one, standing on the same Illinois ground.

The Image the Film Returns To

Same ground, transformed.

A coal plant a solar array A shuttered mine a training center An industrial block a plant making the new grid

The land stays. The people stay. What changes is what we decide to build there.

The same horizon — coal cooling towers and a transmission line on the left giving way to solar panels, a wind turbine, and a rising sun on the right.

The People

The heroes are builders.

Not inventions. The people who chose to build instead of complain.

Jonathan Roberts

The Engineer

Jonathan Roberts

Helped build a coal plant in Springfield, then helped build the solar that rose in its place.

Kyle Barber

The Miner's Son

Kyle Barber

Worked the mine at fifteen. Now he trains the next generation of solar installers and electricians.

Jon Carson

The Developer

Jon Carson

Thirty projects all drew zero in a state lottery. He refused to walk away.

The Cast

The faces of the transition.

Real people, building again — the cast this film follows.

Naomi Davis
Naomi Davis
Lisa Albrecht
Lisa Albrecht
Lesley McCain
Lesley McCain
Brian Haug
Brian Haug
Tim Montague, director

Director's Vision

An argument for stewardship.

This is not an argument for one technology over another. It is an argument for craftsmanship, for community, for thinking in decades instead of quarters, for leaving a place better than we found it.

StewardshipCraftsmanshipCommunityResponsibility

A decade in clean energy; hundreds of interviews with the people building it. Tim Montague, M.S. — Director

Every generation inherits a country. Every generation decides what it becomes.

What's At Stake

The workforce this film is about.

Electricians, installers, engineers, apprentices — the people who build the grid, and the communities that depend on the work.

Why Partner

This is legacy, not advertising.

Partners help tell a nationally important story — and in doing so support the workforce, the communities, the schools, and the American manufacturing base the film is about. Your association is not with a logo placement. It is with renewal itself.

01Presenting PartnerTop-tier association: on-screen credit, premiere hosting, an executive-interview feature, speaking, and full thought-leadership promotion.
02Executive ProducerNamed production credit, private screening access, employee screenings, and recruiting visibility.
03Premier SponsorOn-screen credit, conference screenings, educational licensing, and social promotion.
04Supporting SponsorCredit in film materials, screening access, and digital promotion.
05Community PartnerLocal screening rights, educational use, and recognition in community-outreach materials.

Investment levels on request

The Path to Release

Q2 2026

Research

Deep-dive interviews, archival review, and field reconnaissance across Illinois energy sites. Story architecture locked.

Q2 – Q4 2026

Filming & Production

Principal photography on location — plants, solar fields, training labs, neighborhoods — then post-production and final cut.

Q2 – Q4 2027

Premiere & Festival Run

World-premiere event, festival and conference screenings, university licensing, and public-TV and streaming rollout.

Support the Film

Let's build it.

Sponsor, partner with, or support the documentary. Reach out and let's talk about telling this story together.

Director

Tim Montague, M.S.

Email Tim