The Reluctant Radical

The Reluctant Radical is a climate change film like no other. It is an intimate character
portrait of Ken Ward, an intense man who puts everything on the line in his fight to stave-off climate change. Using cinema verite storytelling, the film explores the moral question: If a crime is committed in order to prevent a greater crime, is it forgivable? Is it, in fact, necessary?

The film reveals both the personal costs and also the fulfillment that comes from following one’s moral calling — even if that means breaking the law. Ken Ward has no regrets, and his certainty leaves the audience to consider if he is out of touch with reality, or if it is the rest of society that is delusional for not acting when faced with the unsettling evidence that we are collectively destroying our world.

The Reluctant Radical follows Ken for a year and a half, culminating with his participation in the coordinated action that shut down all the U.S. tar sands oil pipelines on October 11, 2016 and the ensuing trial that threatens to put him behind bars for twenty years. Director Lindsey Grayzel and Co-Producer Deia Schlosberg were two of four independent filmmakers to be arrested and charged with crimes for filming the activists on October 11, 2016.

Their arrests contributed to the alarm that press freedom and First Amendment rights have
increasingly come under attack as law enforcement and prosecutors favor corporate fossil fuel interests over citizens’ rights. Lindsey’s and Deia’s charges have now been dropped, and they have joined forces to tell Ken’s story through this film.

This event is sponsored by: 350 Sacramento, Stop Fossil Fuels, Environmental Council of Sacramento, Extinction Rebellion Sacramento, C K McClatchy Eco Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sacramento Citizens Climate Lobby, Sacramento Climate Coalition, Sacramento Peace Action, Sacramento Sierra Club, CSU Sacramento Student Environmental Organization.