Rebellion also screens digitally nationwide between May 20 – 26 on HRWFF’s digital streaming platform. Watch here.

Q&A with Directors Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sanchez Bellot, HRW Senior Women’s Rights Researcher Skye Wheeler, moderated by Producer & Co-Host of Mothers Of Invention podcast Thimali Kodikara. 

Rebellion brings viewers behind-the-scenes with Extinction Rebellion (XR), as the group confronts the climate emergency – reminding the world there is no time to wait. Emerging as action on climate change dangerously slipped from the political agenda, XR took bold steps to break through the deadlock: mass civil disobedience. It worked. In 2019, within days of XR protests and over 1,000 arrests, the UK Parliament declared a climate emergency and propelled the issue back into public consciousness. Countries around the world followed suit. Yet, just as XR became a global phenomenon, internal tensions rose within the group, with XR Youth calling out the movement for perpetuating structural and social inequalities and focusing on climate change rather than acknowledging the need for climate justice. Rebellion reminds viewers to question white Western environmentalism and push back against a fight that ignores structural racism and oppression.

“If we want to change anything, if we want to do anything radically different, we have to start putting different voices at the center.” — Savannah Lovelock, Film Participant, Rebellion

“I think the reason why the question, ‘Is it too late?’ annoys me is because – is it too late for whom? And for what? I feel like it’s very important for people to ask a better question, frankly. Which is: what can I do? And what needs to be done?” — Farhana Yamin, Film Participant, Rebellion