Oscar-nominated Heroine(s) filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon nominates Mother Jones as her first narrative feature; Lisa Saltzman photographs the famous work organizer

EXCLUSIVE: Elaine McMillion Sheldon, the filmmaker best known for her Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary work, is taking her first step into history by directing a film about Marry Harris Jones – the saintly worker who made history Mother Jones.

Jerry Bowles and David O’Malley wrote the script for the project, with Lisa Saltzman producing.

Jones, an Irish-born American who worked various jobs as a seamstress and teacher, turned her attention to union and community organizing and activism after experiencing two major personal tragedies: the deaths of her husband and their four children to yellow fever in 1867 Memphis and the destruction of her clothing business in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The passionate figure became known as “America’s Most Dangerous Woman” for campaigning to secure miners’ rights and ban child labor.

Sheldon’s film about Jones follows the fierce working class fighter during one of her last battles in America’s coalfields. CAA Media Finance is taking over the financing of the film and represents the worldwide distribution rights.

“Even though she died in 1930, the Mother Jones story is still true,” Sheldon told Deadline. “It’s a historical story about resilience, gender and influence; and a contemporary history of how public figures are formed and maintained, and the role of performance and spectacle in politics.”

“Mother Jones was tireless in her efforts to improve the lives of working people and was a dedicated and passionate campaigner for social justice. She was compelled to create a more just and fair society,” added Saltzman. “Her legacy has had a huge impact on activists and organizations around the world. Jones, a lawyer well into his 80s, was a brave and fierce fighter whose story is still very relevant today.

Sheldon is an Appalachian filmmaker best known as the director and producer of the Netflix short documentary Heroine)Exploring America’s Opioid Crisis, which earned a 2018 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and a News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Documentary Short. She went further on the subject with the lengthy Netflix doc recover boys and most recently directing and producing king coal. This critically acclaimed documentary, which explores America’s coal regions as they find their new identity outside the industry that has dominated life for more than 100 years, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Saltzman is currently working on a biopic about fitness guru Jack Lalanne based on Steven Kaminsky’s biography Anything Is Possible: The Story of Jack LaLanne, with Gunnar Peterson on board as executive producer. She is also developing films based on two notable artist biographies: those of Debby Campbell and Mark Bego Burning Bridges: Living With My Father Glen Campbell and that of Matthew Hild Arrow Through the Heart: The Biography of Andy Gibb. The former looks at the ups and downs in the life of country music star Glen Campbell, while the latter looks at singer-songwriter and Bee Gees brother Andy Gibb’s struggle with fame, cocaine addiction and death at just 30 years old.

Sheldon is repped by CAA.