Making Waves: Rebirth of the Golden Rule
In 1958, four Quaker peace activists set sail for the Marshall Islands--the US nuclear testing zone--to alert the world to the devastating effects of the bomb on people and the environment. When the crew was arrested and jailed in Hawaii, public outcry for their release sparked a movement that led to the signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. Sixty years later, Veterans for Peace has restored this historic wooden boat and embarked on a global mission to end the arms race. Shot on board the Golden Rule during a protest of the Navy's Air and Sea show in San Diego Bay, the film features interviews of veterans whose stories illuminate the true costs of warfare.
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James KnightDirectorHoly Week: The Story of the 2016 Sacred Peace Walk; Walking the Walk: A March Against Drone Warfare; Kind, True, and Necessary; Ballad of Fire;
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Wendy RoganProducer
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James KnightCameraHoly Week: The Story of the 2016 Sacred Peace Walk; Walking the Walk: A March Against Drone Warfare; Kind, True, and Necessary; Ballad of Fire;
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Victor ToledoCamera
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James KnightSound Mixing and DesignHoly Week: The Story of the 2016 Sacred Peace Walk; Walking the Walk: A March Against Drone Warfare; Kind, True, and Necessary; Ballad of Fire;
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James KnightEditorHoly Week: The Story of the 2016 Sacred Peace Walk; Walking the Walk: A March Against Drone Warfare; Kind, True, and Necessary; Ballad of Fire;
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Frank PahlOriginal ScoreBack From Beyond, The Cowboy Disciple, Loose Threads, Music for Desserts,
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Project Type:Documentary, Short
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Genres:nuclear weapons, peace movement, veterans, environment, history, activism
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Runtime:24 minutes 39 seconds
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Completion Date:February 14, 2018
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Production Budget:3,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Veterans for Peace Golden Rule GalaNewport Beach
February 25, 2018
World Premiere -
Global Impact Film FestivalWashington, DC
United States
August 25, 2018
East Coast Premiere
Official Selection -
Awareness Film FestivalLos Angeles
United States
October 2, 2018
Official Selection -
Guam International Film FestivalHagatna
Guam
October 7, 2018
Asia Pacific premiere
Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short -
Santa Cruz Film FestivalSanta Cruz
United States
October 7, 2018
Official Selection -
Social Justice Film FestivalSeattle
United States
October 13, 2018
Pacific Northwest premiere
Official Selection -
Friday Harbor Film FestivalFriday Harbor
United States
October 25, 2018
Official Selection -
Borrego Springs Film FestivalBorrego Springs, CA
United States
January 19, 2019 -
Australian Wooden Boat Film FestivalHobart, Tasmania
Australia
February 8, 2019
International premiere -
Flagstaff Mountain Film FestivalFlagstaff, AZ
United States -
Global Peace Online Film FestivalWinter Park, FL
United States
September 16, 2018 -
Oneota Film FestivalDecorah, IA
United States
March 7, 2019 -
Sierra Nevada Film FestivalMurphys, CA
United States
May 12, 2019
Official Selection -
Georgia Documentary Film FestivalAtlanta, GA
United States
June 1, 2019
Southern USA premiere
Official Selection -
Oakland International Film FestivalOakland, CA
United States
September 24, 2019
James Knight, a native of Detroit, came to Los Angeles in 1981 to realize his dream of working on feature films. After five years of editing B-grade horror films he left the business to walk across the country in 1986. This experience led him to seek more meaningful work in documentaries.
Since this time he has cut several award winning documentaries, including Cathy Zheutlin's JUST ONE STEP (first prize, Anthropos Film Festival), Nick Clark's WE ARE A RIVER FLOWING for Minnesota Public Television and THE SPIRIT OF PEACE: THE STORY OF PEACE PILGRIM. In addition he has edited numerous educational series for PBS including EARTH REVEALED and CROSSROADS CAFE.
Between editing work Knight has established himself as a creator of avante-garde videos, screening (among many other places) at the Edinburgh Fringe Film Festival, on the 90's Network and at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition (LACE). His work in this field has been mythic and abstract, providing an aesthetic contrast to the straight-forward story-telling of his documentary cutting.
In 1991 the events chronicled in BALLAD OF FIRE would catapult Knight into combining his varied skills to capture a story as bizarre as any fiction and as dramatic as the best true crime story. The resulting documentary was premiered by the prestigious American Cinemateque in Los Angeles in 1997. It went on to screen at many festivals around the world including the Edinburgh Film Festival from which it was selected for a “Best of the Fest” screening in London.
Recent films KIND, TRUE, and NECESSARY, WALKING THE WALK, and HOLY WEEK: THE STORY OF THE 2016 SACRED PEACE WALK highlight the work of peace activists.
After four decades of peace activism one thing has really stood out for me: the participation, voice and leadership of war veterans in the peace movement, always bringing new depth to peace actions and opening hearts that may otherwise have been closed. There is authority in their ideas and memories that cannot be easily dismissed.
For this reason, when I was approached by producer Wendy Rogan with the possibility of making a film for Veterans for Peace I jumped at the chance. Not only had I marched many miles beside the Veterans for Peace flag but their new project, the restoration and launching of an historic peace sailboat was a fascinating one, full of visual and dramatic potential. The Golden Rule had sailed to the Marshall Islands in 1958, the year I was born, an early and risky attempt to draw the world's attention to nuclear testing and the nuclear arms race. The subsequent sinking of the vessel and resurrection by Veterans for Peace for a new and equally exciting mission was a story I wanted to tell.
Spending a few days on the sailboat, protesting the annual San Diego air and sea war show, gave me an opportunity to meet several veterans and collect some of those stories that have broken my heart and inspired me all these years. Hopefully those stories serve to communicate how appropriate it is that this ship of peace is piloted by the former military of the United States.
It is an exciting time for anti-nuclear activism. The passing of last year’s Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty in the United Nations has taken the world to a new level of intolerance for the threat those weapons pose to the world. How the nuclear countries respond to that ban will in many ways be up to us, to the commitment and consistency we bring to our protest.