About the filmmakers
How we decided to make this documentary.
by Mikal Jakubal
Co-director Penelope Andrews has been working in documentary for 10 years, making videos on environmental and social justice issues. I have been involved in forest defense and other activism since 1985 and had recently taken up filmmaking. We both have deep roots in the environmental activist community. On December 7th, 2005 the first arrests of Earth Liberation Front members took place in what was the beginning of the “takedown” phase of the FBI’s Operation Backfire. We had no idea at that time that those first arrests would eventually cascade across the radical activist milieu from Oregon to Michigan and beyond and ultimately involve some two-dozen defendants charged with scores of arsons and sabotage.
We had previously met two of the defendants involved in the first days of the takedown: Bill Rodgers, owner of The Catalyst bookshop in Prescott, Arizona, and Chelsea Gerlach. We had met Bill on a trip through Prescott about two weeks before the arrests, in November of 2005, on the way to hike Grand Canyon. Chelsea had lived in Humboldt County for a while, not far from where we both live in Northern California. We had met once at a party, but had no idea about her underground life.
More arrests and Grand Jury subpoenas followed in the subsequent weeks. Another activist I had known for over 15 years was arrested, then another. It came out fairly quickly that one of the most militant members of the group, Jake Ferguson, had been cooperating with the FBI and had worn a wire while engaging his friends in incriminating conversations during the previous year. Then, others began cooperating, naming more names. The arrests continued. On the Winter Solstice, December 21st, 2005 Bill Rogers killed himself in his jail cell. Things were getting intense. With each passing week, the enormity of this story became clearer, though its contours and texture were still blurry. There was, as yet, no sight of just where it would all end.
Both of us work at Sundance Film Festival, which takes place each winter in Park City, Utah in late January (Jan. 15-25 this year). On January 20, 2006, while at the festival we heard Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ press conference announcing a new indictment in which eleven defendants were named and charged with 65 counts of arson, conspiracy and related crimes.
“In all, their trail of destruction across the Pacific Northwest and beyond resulted in millions of dollars of property damage. Today’s indictment is a significant step in bringing these terrorists to justice.”
-excerpt from Gonzales’ January 20 speech.
“Terrorists.” The word was on every newscast and article about the subject. And, not just from the usual Right-wing, anti-environmental extremists who have always labeled even non-violent activists as terrorists. This was from the U.S. Attorney General in a nationally-televised press conference talking about people I knew.
That day, we began to discuss the idea of a film. A week later, on the drive home from Sundance, we talked about the fact that I personally knew four of the defendants, how I had good friends who knew most of the others, how important the subject was to both of us and how we had an insider’s perspective on the background to the story that no one else would have. It was as if the film came to us and demanded to be made. We decided to take the plunge and rolled the first tapes a couple weeks after that.
Over three and a half years later, the movie is “in the can,” as they say (though we have a few more follow-up shoots we want to do) and we’re working on the rough-cut stage. We plan to be done sometime in early 2010, largely dependent on funding. It has been a long, difficult process, with many unexpected setbacks and changes over the years. The main premise and characters of the story changed three times, for reasons and in ways we never could have predicted. There have also been some amazing breakthroughs and advances that likewise took us by complete surprise and support that has often come out of the blue. All in all it has been a rewarding endeavor that has changed our lives and helped us advance our perspectives as filmmakers and as activists. We think you’ll like the result and encourage you to sign up on our email update list or check back to this site often for updates, news, merchandise, fundraising parties, rough-cut previews and, eventually, screenings of the finished film.
