The Reluctant Radical

The first conversation that I had with Ken Ward naturally turned to climate change. I had nagging feelings of guilt and futility when I thought about climate change, and my solution was to avoid thinking about it as much as possible. This conversation with Ken quickly zeroed in on my discomfort. He had a powerful yet simple message: The world is ending, and we’re pretending that it’s not happening.

Over the course of eighteen months of filming I went with Ken as he tried out various strategies of civil disobedience. He opened up for the camera, revealing a heavy load of angst, isolation and depression, but also dry wit, resilience and dogged determination. He confided his inner fears in the face of overwhelming odds, but time after time he would end his musings with one thought, “What else am I gonna do?” For Ken, doing nothing is never an option.

In the film, Ken goes through a transformation as he moves from being an isolated figure to contributing to larger movements and eventually leading the charge in planning the Shut It Down tar sands oil pipeline direct actions on October 11, 2016. On that day, Ken and four fellow activists shut down all five oil sands pipelines coming into the US, blocking 15% of U.S. daily oil consumption, prompting a response from the White House and gaining national attention.

Myself, my cameraman and my soon to be co-producer, Deia Schlosberg were all arrested that morning while filming the activists. The authorities confiscated our equipment, footage, notes, computers and phones. We were arrested, jailed, and charged with felonies for being present to document the events unfolding. This was not part of the plan. I assumed that I would be released when our equipment and a routine Google search would confirm that we were documentary filmmakers, doing our jobs. Instead, the sheriff issued a press release saying we broke into the facility, though their own police report and an eyewitness testified that we remained outside the fenced enclosure that Ken had broken into. It would take a month of lawyers filing briefs and reporters asking for comments before our charges were eventually dropped.

Since meeting Ken, I have been asking myself the same question he asks himself. “What else am I gonna do?” For me, the answer has been to tell Ken’s story in the hopes that it will inspire others. Facing the threat of thirty years in prison was a frightening experience, but also served as a validation that these stories are powerful agents for social change.

-Lindsey Grayzel