Jeff Aiello, an Emmy award winning filmmaker recently was honored by the Clovis City Council at their latest council meeting.
Aiello, winning an Emmy for his latest documentary, Afterburn: The Creekside Fire Documentary has also won Emmys for Outside Beyond the Lens and American Grown: My Job Depends on Ag.
The council, honoring Aiello for his achievements, presented to him an award and a flag symbolizing the work he has completed on behalf of the town of Clovis.
They then played a clip from his documentary, Afterburn: The Creekside Fire Documentary in which Aiello documents discussions he had investigating the start of the infamous Creek fires of 2020.
Mayor Jose Flores commented on the documentary saying that the cinematography went a long way in illustrating the devastation of the fires and providing information on the fires for the vast public.
Councilmember Drew Bessinger commented on the film as well saying that the documentary did an excellent job in providing images to members of high ranking government positions describing the effects of the seemingly annual fires.
Bessinger explained that around six months before the fires, he had visited Washington D.C. and spoke with levels of the federal government. “We were in a congressman’s office, speaking to his chief of staff…they had absolutely no interest in helping us-they didn’t think it was a problem. And about six months later, this happened.
Aiello’s documentary on the creek fires can be watched for free on PBS’s website.