Wrenched is a new documentary film that captures the passing of the monkey wrench from the pioneers of eco-activism to the new generation who will carry Edward Abbey’s legacy into the 21st century. The fight continues to sustain the last bastion of the American wilderness – the spirit of the West.

Director ML Lincoln will be in attendance. A discussion will follow the film.  

Date: 

Thursday, September 11, 2014 – 7:00pm

Place: 

Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre – 145 Zion Park Blvd Springdale, UT

Tickets:

There WILL be $10 day-of-show Wrenched tickets available for purchase at the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre box office starting at 3 PM Thursday. Showtime is 7 PM.

Advance ticket sales are closed.

About the film
From Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, American literature has a history of being in the vanguard when it comes to activism about controversial issues. The books of Edward Abbey carry on that tradition, with memoirs like Desert Solitaire and the classic comic novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang, taking on the degradation of the American Southwest.

Filmmaker ML Lincoln’s documentary Wrenched reveals how Edward Abbey’s anarchistic spirit and riotous novels influenced and helped guide the nascent environmental movement of the 1970s and ‘80s. Through interviews, archival footage and re-enactments, ML Lincoln captures the outrage of Abbey’s friends who were the original eco-warriors. In defense of wilderness, these early activists pioneered ”monkeywrenching” – a radical blueprint for “wrenching the system” without causing human harm.

Abbey’s message has lived on. Young activists are carrying the monkeywrenching torch, using his books as a source of inspiration. Wrenched captures a new generation as personified in Tim DeChristopher, who single-handedly stopped the sale of 100,000+ of acres of public trust lands in southeastern Utah. He was sentenced to federal prison for his actions. The fight continues to sustain the last bastion of the American frontier – the Wild West. And Wrenched, following in Abbey’s footsteps, asks the question, how far are we willing to go in defense of wilderness?

Successful screenings of Wrenched have happened in San Francisco, Santa Fe, Telluride, Moab and Salt Lake City. Z-Arts is proud to bring Director ML Lincoln and this timely film to the Zion Canyon Community and our neighbors in Southwestern Utah. Several notable Utahns appear in this documentary, including Terry Tempest Williams, Robert Redford and Ken Sleight.

View a list of characters.

About the Discussion Panel
Discussion panel members include the Wrenched film director/producer ML Lincoln, Eric Balken and Abbey-inspired environmental activist Kim Crumbo.

Eric Balken is director of the Glen Canyon Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the restoration of Glen Canyon and a free flowing Colorado River.

Kim Crumbo is currently the Director of Conservation for the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, a non-profit, Flagstaff-based wildlife conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring native wildlife. He is an official stakeholder on USFWS Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan Revision process. Kim has strived to develop and maintain professional relationships with other conservation groups, legislators and their staff, and agency personal as well as general public outreach. He served 20 years with the National Park Service in Grand Canyon as the river ranger and later as Wilderness Coordinator. Kim worked as professional river guide, mostly in Grand Canyon, for 10 years.

Before his experience on rivers and in wilderness activism, Crumbo spent four years with the Navy’s SEAL Team One completing two combat deployments to Vietnam. As a result of his military service, Kim earned several combat decorations, including a Bronze Star.

Kim received a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Utah State University, with postgraduate work in outdoor recreation. His publications include A River Runners Guide to the History of Grand Canyon.

Watch the trailer here:

 

Listen to Doug Fabrizio’s KUER Radiowest interview with Director ML Lincoln and two of Abbey’s close friends Ken Sanders and Jack Loeffler here. Note: this interview occurred in February 2014.

 

This project is supported by Utah Arts and Museums, with funding from the State of Utah and the National Endowment for the Arts .

Support for this event provided by The National Endowment for the Arts - Art Works