by Dov Kornits
Can you tell us about your journey to arrive at The Boys Who Said NO!?
This is my third film about war resisters – the completion of a triptych on the subject. The first, The Good War and those Who Refused to Fight it told the long-forgotten story of WWII legal conscientious objectors and illegal war resisters.
The second, The Most Dangerous Man in America, Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers tells the story of a highly regarded war planner turned whistleblower. That film was nominated for the Oscar and primetime Emmy, Won the Peabody Award, 20 film festival awards…
Daniel Ellsberg makes an appearance in this film, as one of the young war resisters. Randy Kehler inspired Ellsberg to follow that example and risk everything to stop the war.
Over the years, making these films and a radio series on the subject, I became acquainted with many of the Vietnam era resisters. One day, I got a call from Christopher Colorado Jones, who was organising a reunion of the men and women in ‘The Resistance’, and asked me to document it. I conducted interviews with a couple dozen including Joan Baez and David Harris and suggested this might be more than just a remembrance of their gathering but the raw material of a larger film on the movement and the role of war resisters in stopping the draft and the war. Christopher put up his hand to help raise the money for such a film and invited a team of pacifist experts on the subject to jump on board and help us make a film that accurately reflected the history of that movement.
Very sadly, Christopher died in a fall from a ladder just over a year ago. He was adjusting the rainbow banner on his home the day before the massive annual San Francisco Gay Rights parade when he fell to his death.
What do you think the film says to the current BLM movement, or any current protest movement?
This film, which began with revealing the history of a profound and history-making movement opposing the Vietnam war, has evolved into a playbook for civil disobedience at the centre of the movements now shaking up the US and the world. What it says today is what the civil rights movement said to the non-violence anti-draft movement… these tactics actually work, if patience and a commitment to non-violence are at the centre of the movement. They can change government policy, change history and change the world as we see from Gandhi’s experiments in civil disobedience and Martin Luther King’s and the young war resisters who refused to be drafted and accept the likely punishment of up to five years in prison. Over 4,000 young men served hard time in federal prison. 20,000 were indicted for this crime and hundreds of thousands refused to fight. Today’s BLM movement and the momentum to continue to resist injustice and violence has been dormant for the most part in the 50 years since the events of this film. What an amazing time to release this story!
Did you find that the men featured in your film maintained their rage all these years later?
Rage? It’s not a word I connect to this group of men. They were outraged by the actions of the US government in their names, as many of us are today. But they are lifelong pacifists committed to the power of nonviolent civil disobedience as a tool to change minds and change history. They use the language of nonviolence and live their lives today still dedicated to the principles they learned as young men. They haven’t wavered from their mission of practicing and setting an example of nonviolent civil disobedience when necessary for a moment.
Daniel Ellsberg has been arrested 89 times for breaking the law to oppose war, global warming and the nuclear threat. He can often be found chaining himself on a winter day outside the White House.
Winter Dellenbach just won a landmark court case in Silicon Valley saving the only low income housing left for the workers in the area. Bob Cooney has just published the definitive book on the history of the Women’s Suffrage movement, Joan Baez travels the world bringing her unforgettable music to millions of fans along with her commitment to peace and justice. She just completed an 18-month tour that began as a small tour and her fans kept her on the road worldwide for a year longer than planned.
What attracts you to the subjects of your films?
These men and women who threw their bodies against the machine of war and continue to stand up against the forces of violence and evil are my heroes.
What’s happening with the film’s release in the US?
It’s just beginning. We just competed the film for an extended deadline for the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. It will have its US premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival – in the town near San Francisco where the reunion took place. It’s my favourite festival in California. Sadly, I can’t be there as I am unable to travel to the US from Australia and very thankful to be in my adopted country during these difficult times. The festival itself will be held in drive-in movies and online and they plan to bring me into a Q&A online.
The Boys Who Said NO! is screening at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival
Main Image: Jan Rose Kasmir, then age 17, Washington, D.C., March on the Pentagon, October 21, 1967.
What a great interview with the light of my life! Thanks Dov!