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If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front at Sheffield Doc/Fest

June 3, 2011 BY Molly Murphy

Story Leads to Action
Sheffield Doc/Fest Venue: The Crucible Studio
Friday, June 10, 10:00am
Moderators: Working Films co-founders Robert West & Judith Helfand

Story Leads to Action makes the process of community engagement interactive and transparent. Join Working Films UK and Sheffield Doc/Fest as we craft the first steps in an interactive campaign for Marshall Curry’s new film If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. Award-winning Guardian journalist Paul Lewis, Greenpeace’s Senior Climate Adviser Charlie Kronick, UK Uncut’s Adam Ramsay and John Stewart (credited with stopping the third runway at Heathrow) and workshop audience members will explore innovative distribution and online strategies for this “compelling doc about radical environmentalism”[1].

While Curry’s film focuses on one activist’s history with the US-based Earth Liberation Front, the narrative raises questions about UK activism unfolding now: How far is too far when it comes to campaigning for real world change? From the ‘siege of Fortnum and Masons’ to the exposure of environmentalist Mark Stone as an undercover police officer, British protests and the subsequent police response have garnered a huge amount of press. With an increasing number of people turning to direct action across a range of causes, the panel and audience will investigate links between these current trends and lessons drawn from the film.

[1] Hollywood Reporter

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