Wrenched Film Documentary

Award-winning filmmaker M. L. Lincoln will visit Bend to speak at a public event and present her new documentary, Wrenched.

Through interviews, archival footage, and reenactments, Wrenched reveals how Edward Abbey’s anarchistic spirit and riotous novels influenced and helped guide the nascent environmental movement of the 1970’s and 80’s.  Some of these early activists pioneered “monkey wrenching,” a form of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience, to defend wilderness. The film portrays a new generation of monkeywrenchers who use Abbey’s books as a source of inspiration.  Among them is Tim DeChristopher, who pioneered ‘paper’ monkey wrenching by outbidding big oil and gas companies in an illegal auction, saved more than 100,000 acres of public trust land in SE Utah, and is now serving a 2-year Federal sentence.

Among those appearing in Wrenched are Terry Tempest Williams, Robert Redford, Katy Lee, Dave Foreman, Paul Watson, and DeChristopher. M.L. Lincoln attended film school in Los Angeles and worked on productions at the American film Institute.  In the 90’s she worked at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography and founded the “More Exposure Project,” which taught photography to at-risk youth.

Her previous award-winning documentary, Drowning River, celebrates the environmental activism of Katy Lee, who battled along with David Brower to prevent construction of the Glen Canyon Dam.

Appearing with Ms. Lincoln at this event is Jaik Goff, Bend founder of Dam Busters and Thunder Creek Custom Woodworking.  Mr. Goff works to protect and defend the urban stretch of the Deschutes River.  He will be displaying his art and woodwork.

More acclaim for Wrenched:

“Vivid, inspiring and beautiful film…Through the words of Abbey’s friends, the stunning footage of the land he loved, and his own unique and curmudgeonly voice, he is brought back to life in this vitally relevant movie.”  – David Gessner, Professor of Creative Writing, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Author, All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West

“Wrenched portrays Abbey and friends with ruthless honesty…[The film] makes the most of Abbey’s quotes and the dedication his friends have to him and their beloved wilderness. It closed to a standing ovation in Moab.” – Janneli Miller, Four Corners Free Press