Pave the Road

This award-winning and life-changing documentary was self-shot over a decade, giving voice to the children, communities, and neglected citizens of Costa Rica that have suffered from deadly road dust due to government and private-company corruption. Despite threats, Canadian director and cinematographer Kelly Mason interviews government officials, medical experts, and community members. She invests four years of testing waste materials at the National Laboratory at the University of Costa Rica (LANAMME-UCR). Their research leads to the groundbreaking discovery that waste materials can replace fossil fuels when melted back to their original structure. Kelly presents these facts to multiple government sectors for approval, and a full-blown protest involving military police eventually breaks out. Throughout all this, Kelly and her children fearlessly strive for the well-being of their community in Costa Rica, eventually succeeding in helping make environmental law. All the while, their family moves through their own journey of personal healing after facing a separation, and that journey paves new roads for the well-being of their broken family and for the planet itself.