Focus Fund: Kelly Nyks / Disobedience / 350.org

DISOBEDIENCE

A film by CMG's Focus Fund grantee Kelly Nyks and PF Pictures. Disobedience was released on April 29, 2016 for free online. It engaged audiences around in the world in the history civil disobedience and its role in the Break Free movement.  The campaign ran from May 4-15 with the following notable actions taking place with over 30,000 participants and 20 escalated actions over 6 continents. The major fossil fuels disruptions were:

  • Newcastle Coal Port in Australia shut down for one day.
  • Vattenfall Welzow-Sued coal mine + Schwarze Pumpe coal power station in Germany was shut down coal plant for 3 days of successive acts of civil disobedience to demand an end to coal.
  • Action against the Pecém coal power plant, the largest thermal power plant in the Brazil it is a symbol of the federal government’s contradiction of the agreement signed at COP21.
  • Ffos-y-Fran coal mine, the largest open-cast coal mine in the United Kingdom - was shut down for over 12 hours, with no injuries and no arrests.
  • Thousands converged by land and water on March Point in Anacortes, WA — the largest unmitigated source of CO2 in the northwest United States and, the site of two oil refineries. Over three days, the action included multiple kayak flotillas, a march led by Indigenous leaders, and an overnight sit-in on the train tracks that led to over 50 arrests.
  • Community leaders led a mass action Aliaga coal ash disposal site near Izmir, Turkey calling for a stop to four fossil fuel plant projects in the surrounding area.  

Learn more about the project here.

Kelly Nyks & PF Pictures: Disobedience

About the Project

Disobedience was a 40-minute film directed by award-winning Kelly Nyks of PF Pictures. The CMG Focus Fund grant supported the production and distribution of the film, a sequel to the well-received documentary Disruption. Production for the film occured from January to April and distribution was coordinated with the worldwide Break Free from Fossil Fuels campaign planned for May 4-15, 2016.

The film featured verité footage of inspiring front line actions in Brazil, Turkey, Germany, The Philippines, Canada, and the United States interwoven with interviews from some of the most renowned voices in the conversation of social movements and the climate crisis, including Elizabeth Kolbert, Naomi Klein, Marshall Ganz, Malcom Gladwell, Naomi Oreskes, Michael Mann, and Bill McKibben.