Solar Roots is the true story of how a small group of backwoods engineers and business hippies brought solar photovoltaic technology down from space into homes around the world delivering “solar power to the people.” A special screening of the documentary will be held in Portland on Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

Filmmakers Jeff Spies and Jason Vetterli spent two years traveling the country interviewing over 50 pioneers of the solar industry to make this educational, funny and touching film. The story starts in the 1800s with the early scientific discoveries and quickly progresses through the development of the Bell Silicon Cell in the 1950s, the rapid deployment of solar in the space race of the 1960’s, and the debut of terrestrial solar in the 1970s, before finally focusing on the men and women who gave birth to the solar home power movement in the early 80’s, which eventually grew to define the modern day solar industry.

Filmmaker Jeff Spies, in an interview with Solar Energy International, said that the process of making this film was really gratifying and that the documentary is about talking to the pioneers of the solar industry and “telling their story their way by someone who deeply respects what they did and who wants to make certain that future generations understand how incredibly amazing these individuals were that started the industry.”

The film will be screened as part of the Oregon Solar Energy Conference on Tuesday May 1, 2018. Get your tickets online.

Find out more on the documentary website.