SECTIONS // OFFICIAL COMPETITION FEATURE LENGTH

The Yes Men Are Revolting

Laura Nix, The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno)
91' / 2014 / United States of America
Web: theyesmenarerevolting.com/
English
Spanish subtitled

Audience vote 8.59

For the last 20 years, notorious activists the Yes Men (Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum) have staged outrageous hoaxes to hijack public dialogue worldwide about the issues of the day. In their third cinematic outing (after The Yes Men and The Yes Men Fix The World), they are now well into their 40s, and their mid-life crises are threatening to drive them out of activism forever – even as they prepare to take on the biggest challenge they’ve ever faced climate change. Frustrated by each other and worried they can’t make a difference anymore, how can they keep fighting the world’s most urgent threat? Revealing the real people behind the ruses, their latest film is as much a character study as it is a thrilling ride depicting their latest interventions against corporate greed. Following their lives for over four years, The Yes Men Are Revolting reveals their creative process, hilarious strategies, and personal conflicts while they juggle the demands of getting older, holding down jobs, and maintaining some shred of personal lives. From villages in Uganda’s Karamoja region to the toxic oil fields in Canada’s tar sands, these iconoclastic revolutionaries take on big oil, lobbyists, Wall Street, and the U.S. government, armed with nothing but thrift-store suits and a lack of shame. Overcoming personal obstacles to deliver uproarious actions of global significance, the Yes Men deliver a hopeful message about ordinary people breaking through the paralysis to take back their planet.

Main Festivals & Awards

Berlinale 2015- Panorama (EuropeanPremiere): 2nd Place Panorama Audience Award
TIFF 2014 (World Premiere) / DOC NYC / Human Rights / Human Wrongs / !fIstanbul / Transitions (Australia) / FIFDH Geneva

Director's Biography

Laura Nix, Director and Producer
Laura Nix directed the documentary The Light In Her Eyes, about a Syrian Quran school for women, which premiered at IDFA in2011, was broadcast on the series POV on PBS, and toured the world as part of Sundance's Film Forward program. Her other feature directing credits include the critically acclaimed fiction feature The Politics of Fur, which played in over 70 festivalsinternationally and won multiple awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest, and the feature documentary Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig, for New Line Cinema. Nix co-wrote the Emmy-nominated PBS doc California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown, about the former state governor. Her non fiction television work has appeared on HBO, IFC, Planet Green, and the History Channel. She has given talks about filmmaking at numerous events and universities, including IDFA, Harvard University, and panels for the International Documentary Association. Based in Los Angeles, she's currently developing a documentary feature about ballroom dancers in San Gabriel Valley, a predominantly Chinese suburb of Los Angeles.

The Yes Men, Directors and Producers
The Yes Men impersonate big-time corporate criminals to draw attention to their crimes against humanity and the environment. Their outrageous satirical interventions at business events, on the internet, television, and in the streets form the basis of two award-winning documentaries, The Yes Men and The Yes Men Fix the World, festival favourites in Toronto, Berlin, SXSW and others. Their work has been shown in the Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale, ARS Electronica, and other art exhibitions. They are the recipients of numerous awards, including Creative Time's Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change, Grierson Documentary Award, Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, the United Nations Association Film Festival Grand Jury Award, Best Documentary Award at HBO Comedy Arts Festival, and the Audience Award at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. They are the authors of several books and many articles, and lecture internationally on art and social change. They are the founders of a nonprofit, the Yes Lab, and the Action Switchboard, an online platform for generating real-life direct actions in the service of social movements.