A compelling documentary that chronicles how college student Tim DeChristopher disrupted a 2008 Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction in Utah by posing as a bidder and “winning” 22,000 acres of public land that he had no intention of drilling. His act of nonviolent civil disobedience made national headlines, halted the sale of ecologically sensitive land, and exposed how easily public lands were being handed over to fossil fuel interests.

Rather than accepting a plea deal, DeChristopher chose to go to trial, using the courtroom as a platform to speak out about climate justice, corporate capture of government, and the moral necessity of direct action. He was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison—but the impact of his action went far beyond his conviction.

The land itself? Much of it remains protected to this day. The Department of the Interior reviewed the rushed auction and ultimately canceled many of the leases, recognizing they had been improperly offered and were environmentally unsound. Tim’s bold disruption directly contributed to this outcome, sparing thousands of acres near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks from oil and gas development.

The film also documents the founding of Peaceful Uprising, a climate justice group created to support Tim and continue building momentum for bold, creative nonviolent resistance. While the group is no longer operating with a public-facing presence, it played a formative role in helping develop a generation of climate activists, many of whom have gone on to lead or support movements like Extinction Rebellion, Sunrise, and climate justice campaigns across the U.S.

DeChristopher remains active today as a speaker, writer, and organizer. He advocates for deep, systemic change and continues to call for nonviolent disruption of business-as-usual in the face of the escalating climate crisis.