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<p>CENTRALIA &#8212; The Centralia mine fire started over half a century ago in the summer of 1962 at the southern tip of Columbia County.</p><p>It&#8217;s still burning today &#8212; and experts say it could burn for decades to come.</p><p>The underground fire has forced almost an entire town &#8212; with a population of more than 1,000 in 1980 &#8212; to flee.</p><p>The town&#8217;s population stood at just 10 residents as of 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.</p><p>But there is one piece of good news: Centralia has become a haven for tourists in search of alternative destinations and has inspired the book &#8220;Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire&#8221; by journalist David DeKok.</p><p>DeKok&#8217;s book, in turn, led Philadelphia-based filmmaker Joe Sapienza II to make a documentary about the village called &#8220;Centralia: Pennsylvania&#8217;s Lost Town.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I thought it&#8217;d be interesting to do a film on it,&#8221; Sapienza said.</p><p>Centralia will be showing it at the Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts as part of the Northeast Pennsylvania Film Festival. It will be screened Sunday at 6 p.m.</p><p>Sapienza said the film took about four years to complete, and due to financial struggles during the first few months, he wasn&#8217;t sure the movie would ever get made.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just happy we did it,&#8221; said Sapienza.</p><p>He focused the documentary on both the former residents of the town, as well as the officials involved in relocating residents during the 1980s and 1990s.</p><p>&#8220;We gave a voice to everyone,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The filmmakers wanted to give a personal experience and narrative around the history of the town. That&#8217;s why Sapienza opted against using a narrator, instead letting the voices of those who lived through the experience tell the story.</p><p>&#8220;It puts a personal touch on things,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Sapienza said they were able to gather old news footage from years of coverage and embed it into the documentary, as well as over 200 photos from DeKok&#8217;s personal archives to show the town throughout the past five decades.</p><p>Sapienza said one of his favorite parts of the project was being able to go through the archived news footage and see video from when events were happening in Centralia.</p><p>&#8220;Watching that in raw format is pretty neat,&#8221; Sapienza said.</p><p>After the screening in Kingston, there will be a few more showings in Northeastern Pennsylvania through Thanksgiving. Sapienza said the documentary will be available on DVD and digital format after the new year.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">This is a promotional poster for &#8216;Centralia: Pennsylvania&#8217;s Lost Town.&#8217; The documentary will be screen 6 p.m. Sunday at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_Centralia-Pennsylvanias-Lost-Town-Poster_2A.jpg</photo0><caption0>This is a promotional poster for &#8216;Centralia: Pennsylvania&#8217;s Lost Town.&#8217; The documentary will be screen 6 p.m. Sunday at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Brigid Edmunds</p><p>bedmunds@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;Centralia: Pennsylvania&#8217;s Lost Town&#8217;</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 6 p.m. Sunday</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts</p><p><strong>Cost:</strong> $5</p><p><strong>Additional information:</strong> waverlycomm.org</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Brigid Edmunds at 570-991-6113 or on Twitter @brigidedmunds</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Documentary on Pa. town ravaged by mine fire to be screened Sunday