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QUAKERS: The Quiet Revolutionaries

QUAKERS: The Quiet Revolutionaries describes the link between present day Quakers and their historical revolutionary role models. Quakers have been at the forefront of struggles for the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, civil rights, anti-war and ecological activism. Iconic Quakers William Penn, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul and Bayard Rustin are featured.

The film shows how Quaker values have become a driving force in American democracy yet remain somehow out of the spotlight. We follow Philadelphia's Earth Quaker Action Team as they tackle PNC Bank's financing of mountaintop-removal coal mining. They walk a line between spirituality and activism, describing themselves as standing on the shoulders of Quakers who have come before.

Quakers are found in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific. But today, more than half of the Religious Society of Friends live in Africa.

  • Janet Paxton Gardner
    Director
    2015-2016 Guggenheim Fellow: Director: Lost Child: Sayon's Journey; Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story; Last Ghost of War; Siberian Dream; Precious Cargo; Dancing Through Death: The Monkey, Magic & Madness; A World Beneath the War
  • Janet Gardner
    Writer
    2015-1016 Guggenheim Fellow; Lost Child: Sayon's Journey; Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story; Last Ghost of War; Siberian Dream; Precious Cargo; Dancing Through Death: The Monkey, Magic & Madness; A World Beneath the War
  • Elena Mannes
    Writer
    Eight-time Emmy Award winner; The Music Instinct: Science & Song; Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story; On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying; Norman Rockwell: Painting America; New York Underground: A History of the NYC Subway; Amazing Grace with Bill Moyers
  • Janet Gardner
    Producer
    Co-Producer: Lost Child: Sayon's Journey; Producer: Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story; Producer: Last Ghost of War; Producer: Siberian Dream; Co-Producer: Precious Cargo; Producer: Dancing Through Death: The Monkey, Magic & Madness; Co-Producer: A World Beneath the War
  • Richard Nurse
    Producer
    Senior Producer: Quakers: The Quiet Revolutionaries; formerly Executive Director of Crossroads Theater Company, New Brunswick, NJ
  • Richard Nurse
    Key Cast
    "Narrator"
  • Maurice Hines
    Key Cast
    "Voice of Bayard Rustin"
  • Andrew Muir
    Key Cast
    "Voice of George Fox and William Penn"
  • Jason Cutts
    Key Cast
    "William Penn"
  • Rich Swingle
    Key Cast
    "John Woolman"
  • Kevin Cloutier
    Cinematographer
    Four-time Emmy Award winner; Director of Photography for Gardner Group: Last Ghost of War, Siberian Dream, Precious Cargo, Dancing through Death, and Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story. For CBS: CBS Reports, 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II. For PBS: PBS Newshour: "Making Sense" Series with Paul Solman;
  • John Vondracek
    Graphic Design and Animation
    Founder, The String Theory Design NY
  • Laura Israel
    Editing
    Editor: "Fishing with John" with John Lurie; "Africa Unite: A Celebration of Bob Marley's 60th Birthday;" "Hearts of Africa." Director: Windfall
  • Chelsea Smith
    Editing
    Editor: Defining Hope; Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno Live; House of Z (Asst. Editor)
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    History, Religion, World Peace, Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Human Rights, Activism, Environmental Justice, African-American, Student, Mature, Christian, Women, Youth
  • Runtime:
    56 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 13, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    490,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    1080i, HDV
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.78 (16x9)
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • New Hope Film Festival
    New Hope, PA
    United States
    July 21, 2018
    World Premiere
    Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary
  • Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival
    Providence, RI
    United States
    August 12, 2018
    Grand Prize: Flickers' International Humanitarian Award
  • New Jersey Film Festival
    New Brunswick, NJ
    United States
    February 8, 2019
    Honorable Mention
  • Loudoun Film Festival
    Chantilly, VA
    United States
    July 20, 2019
    Audience Choice Award
  • The IndieFEST Film Awards 2023
    La Jolla, CA
    Award of Merit
  • Seattle Film Festival 2024
    Seattle
    United States
    May 25, 2024
    Official Selection
  • Ethos Film Awards
    Los Angeles
    United States
    November 5, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Paris Awards Film Festival
    Paris
    France
    June 15, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Sydney World Fest 2023-2024
    Sydney
    Australia
    March 15, 2024
    Official Selection
  • The Magic of Cinema
    Barcelona
    Spain
    May 1, 2024
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • American Public Television
    Distributor
    Country: United States
    Rights: Free TV
Director Biography - Janet Paxton Gardner

Janet Paxton Gardner is the producer, director and writer of award-winning documentaries on Vietnamese and Cambodian subjects as well as a notable film on the life of American Peter Cooper. In recognition of her work with the Gardner Documentary Group, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2015-2016. Her latest project is Quakers: The Quiet Revolutionaries. Ms. Gardner began her career as a film editor, field producer and news writer for WNBC and WRC-TV. She also was a staff feature writer for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer and contributor to major newspapers such as the New York Times and Boston Globe. She is an alumna of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Cooper Union. For her latest film she traveled to schools, Monthly Meetings, and archival locations throughout the U.S. In the end she produced a profile of a faith that embraces all individuals, regardless of gender, race or origin.

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Director Statement

When I first visited the UK with a group of Philadelphia Quakers, we were taken to Lancaster Prison to see the room where they had been incarcerated. It was illegal to be a Quaker. Hundreds who dared to defy the Church of England died in prison; others were tortured. A room was set aside for instruments of torture, including a "show and tell" illustrating women who were forced to wear a scold's bridle for preaching in public.

I first met Quakers in Vietnam on a life-changing trip designed to make friends with our former enemies, sponsored by the U.S. Indochina Reconciliation Project. I found their nonviolent approach inspiring, and, once back in the U.S., began exploring the topic. I found that the great William Penn was a Quaker who had been disowned by his wealthy father. Many scout trips and a Kickstarter campaign later, I was off and running. Criminologist Candace McCoy, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, helped me realize my dream by describing the plight of Quakers and helping get a camera crew into the formidable prison, no mean feat.

In 2012 I found myself with fellow travelers walking up an immense mountain in the rain. This steep, rocky mountain was a spiritual site called Pendle Hill in Lancashire, UK, something akin to the holy site of Jerusalem. It was an intense green, greener than anything I had ever seen in America. It was here that George Fox had a vision in 1652. The English Civil War was over, and King Charles I had lost his head. The atmosphere was chaotic, and many people felt themselves in a spiritual wilderness. When Fox, a tall, charismatic fellow who had been brought up in the Church of England, spoke of his vision of “a great people to be gathered,” many listened and became convinced. They hoped to have a direct relationship with God. This is what George Fox promised when he formed the Religious Society of Friends.

As a filmmaker, I have always been interested in revealing hidden histories, and this was a huge story crying out to be told. I felt Quakers were underserved—that few people other than Quakers themselves knew much about them, because they didn’t proselytize. PBS had not covered them, nor had any other network as far as I knew. A narrative on their history would reveal something unique—a marriage between activism and spirituality.

When I learned that there were more Quakers in Africa than in the United States, I became even more curious about them. And the more of them I meet, the more curious I become.

Janet Gardner