POV‘s 25th season on PBS continues with an encore presentation of the Oscar-nominated documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, a film that lifts the veil on a radical environmental group the FBI called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.”
The film airs on PBS stations at 10 PM on October 11, 2012 with additional broadcast times following. Check your local listings.
View the trailer for the documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, airing on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, on POV.
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front explores two of America’s most pressing issues — environmentalism and terrorism — by lifting the veil on a radical environmental group the FBI calls America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” Daniel McGowan, a former member of the Earth Liberation Front, faces life in prison for two multimillion-dollar arsons against Oregon timber companies. What turned this working-class kid from Queens into an eco-warrior? Marshall Curry (Oscar®-nominated Street Fight, POV 2005) provides a nuanced and provocative account that is part coming-of-age story, part cautionary tale and part cops-and-robbers thriller. A co-production of ITVS. Winner of Best Documentary Editing Award, 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
After watching the film, visit POV’s website for interactive features about the film:
- What do you know about the laws surrounding FBI informants? Take the informant quiz.
- Go behind the lens with an exclusive extended interview with filmmakers Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, and hear answers to the questions they took from viewers along with Rik Scarce, author of Eco-Warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement.
- Get an update on what’s happened since the camera’s stopped rolling.
- Several songs included in If a Tree Falls are by The National. We checked in with frontman Matt Bernginger to ask about his experience mixing music with film.
- Learn more about the environmental movement, “eco-terrorism” and the ELF, and view trial documents from McGowan’s case.
Did you know? Many POV films are available free to stream online and on mobile devices. Visit POV’s Watch Video page or download the PBS mobile app for iPhone or iPad, and see which films are available today!