Resistance Films by Judith Ehrlich: The Boys Who Said No!

Winner of the Audience Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival and San Luis Obispo International Film Festival

“The Boys Who Said No! is too important a film to be missed.”
– Emily Chase, Eat Drink Films

“An ode to the power of activism.”
– G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

Inspired by MLK Jr. and the civil rights movement, activists Joan Baez and David Harris take center stage in the youth-led movement to resist the Vietnam draft.

As the war in Vietnam raged, hundreds of thousands of young men opposed to an unjust war said “No!” to being drafted into the military, risking up to five years in federal prison. Their individual courage and collective nonviolent actions helped end a tragic war and the draft. The Boys Who Said NO! by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Judith Ehrlich (The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers), is the story of a mass movement of young people who chose conscience over killing.

The film features a diverse array of draft resisters who appear in well-chosen archival footage and sharp contemporary interviews including Daniel Ellsberg, Randy Kehler, Mark Rudd, Michael Ferber, Cleveland Sellers, and Bob Eaton.

This film is presented in collaboration with Futures Without Violences. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A with director Judith Ehrlich and the founder and president of Futures Without Violence, Esta Soler.

 

‘The Boys Who Said No! celebrates the power of the word. From the flyers that were handed out at draft boards to the cadences of King during the March on Washington, to how word-of-mouth can turn out thousands to protest injustice in an age before social media, its power to effect meaningful change is undeniable. Then and now. If the resisters did not force the government to acknowledge the injustice of the war, they did succeed in irrevocably turning the tide of public opinion and forcing a cease-fire. It is too important a lesson to be forgotten. And The Boys Who Said No! is too important a film to be missed.”

– Eat Drink Films