A new documentary named “Just Look Up” explores American environmental activism through the lens of direct activism and disruptive tactics, premiering at CPH:DOX before moving to the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Directed by Emma Wall and Betsy Hershey, the film follows Climate Defiance, a youth-driven activist organization established in 2023 by Michael Greenberg with the aim of stopping fossil fuel extraction on U.S. federal territories and waters. The project, which counts Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam McKay as an producer alongside Joshua Oppenheimer of “The Act of Killing,” captures the group’s confrontational methods at public events, videos of which have garnered millions of internet views. Rather than relying on traditional expert interviews, the filmmakers chose an observational, verité approach to recording the movement’s impact and tactics.
The Origins of a Environmental Activism Documentary
The beginnings of “Just Look Up” trace back to an surprising origin: a Zoom call organized by Adam McKay at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Directors Emma Wall and Betsy Hershey participated in the online meeting, which also featured the Climate Emergency Fund and an array of scientists and researchers examining the processes underlying social change. The conversation became transformative, revealing data suggesting that when just 3.5% of a population commits to sustained disruption, governments consistently alter their policies. This insight became the philosophical foundation for the directors’ decision to document Climate Defiance’s work.
Wall and Hershey were purposeful in their creative approach from the outset, avoiding the traditional documentary style of expert talking heads and evidence-based narratives. Instead, they committed to a verité observational approach that would document the unfiltered reality of climate activism at work. Despite being connected to numerous scientists and researchers through McKay’s initial gathering, the directors recognized that their film required intimate, on-the-ground documentation rather than theoretical frameworks. This strategic choice determined the complete production, enabling viewers to observe the movement’s impact in person rather than through expert analysis.
- McKay’s Zoom call connected filmmakers with climate researchers and scientists
- 3.5% population disruption threshold became central to the film’s approach
- Directors rejected conventional talking-heads documentary style completely
- Verité style captures authentic climate activism and grassroots action
From Theory to Observational Filmmaking
The transition from McKay’s intellectual foundation to actual documentary work demanded Wall and Hershey to completely reconsider how films might express climate activism. Rather than constructing arguments through professional commentary and statistical graphics, they pursued an immersive approach that would allow viewers to feel the movement’s vitality and urgency directly. This stylistic choice revealed a fundamental belief: that the power of climate activism lay not in numerical abstractions but in the lived experiences of those willing to confront institutional systems. The observational technique became crucial to preserving the authentic tension, comedic moments, and personal consequences contained within Climate Defiance’s aggressive strategies.
The filmmakers’ devotion to observational cinema meant ceding control over narrative structure in favor of following their subjects naturally. This approach demanded patience, cooperation, and confidence—qualities that would shape their working relationship with the advocacy organization throughout filming. By establishing the camera as a neutral observer rather than an editorial perspective, Wall and Hershey allowed opportunity for audiences to form their own judgments about the movement’s legitimacy and effectiveness. The documentary’s power would arise not from rhetorical persuasion but from the unfiltered reality of activism unfolding in the moment, complete with its conflicts, wins, and obstacles.
Finding the Right Subject
Wall and Hershey’s hunt for the ideal activist group to support led them to Climate Defiance and its founder, Michael Greenberg. The organization’s recently established formation in 2023 meant the directors could chronicle a campaign in its nascent period, capturing both the vision and concrete difficulties of creating a climate activism platform. Greenberg’s direction provided a powerful focal point for their story, offering audiences a understandable entry point into the larger climate justice cause. His age and resolve resonated with the directors’ vision of contemporary activism as a defining challenge for this generation.
The organization’s deliberate strategy to disruption—openly challenging fossil fuel executives and their political allies at public gatherings—offered visually compelling material perfectly suited to verité filmmaking. The group’s viral video moments, which had already garnered millions of online views, demonstrated their ability to create attention and ignite discussion. This existing media footprint suggested that Greenberg and his organization understood how to communicate their message effectively, making them ideal subjects for a film examining activism’s intersection with contemporary digital culture and public spectacle.
High-Profile Incidents and Legal Issues
Climate Defiance’s aggressive strategy has generated considerable public interest, with videos of their hands-on protests against oil and gas industry leaders and political supporters receiving millions of online views. The group’s commitment to blocking prominent occasions—from corporate gatherings to political fundraisers—has made them a prominent player in American climate advocacy. However, this visibility comes with significant danger. Members have faced arrest, criminal charges, and mounting court battles as they pursue their mission to stop oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters. The documentary captures these fraught situations, revealing the emotional cost of ongoing protest activity and the careful planning activists must make when direct action becomes their primary tool for change.
The legal ramifications of Climate Defiance’s tactics form a important thematic element throughout “Just Look Up.” As founder Michael Greenberg and his co-activists pursue their disruptive campaigns, they navigate an ever more complicated legal landscape. Prosecutors have filed charges ranging from trespassing to more serious felonies, generating financial and emotional burdens that strain the group’s resilience. The filmmakers document these courtroom struggles without giving straightforward resolutions, presenting the activists as complex individuals grappling with the ethical burden of breaking laws they consider unjust. This legal dimension increases urgency and stakes to the documentary, transforming it from a straightforward depiction of activism into an investigation of what citizens are ready to forfeit for their convictions.
- Climate Defiance members arrested in clashes with fossil fuel executives
- Escalating legal expenses drain group finances and personal finances
- Court appearances impede activists’ work and demand considerable hours
- Criminal accusations range from minor offenses to felony-level offenses
- Legal disputes test organizational unity and individual commitment to the movement
Managing Risk and Rights
The documentary examines how young activists balance their constitutional rights with the practical realities of challenging powerful corporate and political interests. Climate Defiance members must continually consider whether their disruptions qualify as protected speech or criminal conduct—a distinction that varies by jurisdiction and judicial interpretation. Wall and Hershey document the anxiety attending to these decisions, showing activists working with attorneys, discussing strategy, and readying themselves for potential arrest. This legal vulnerability serves as a defining feature of their activism, requiring activists to develop nuanced comprehension of their rights while accepting that consequences may follow regardless of legal technicalities.
“Look Just Up” showcases the activists’ legal struggles not as failures but as central to their core identity. By choosing disruption over traditional advocacy methods, members of Climate Defiance have recognized that legal risk attends their work. The documentary shows how this calculated risk-taking reinforces group cohesion and clarifies members’ dedication to the cause. Judges and prosecutors become unwitting characters in the activists’ narrative, their decisions strengthening rather than dampening the movement message. Through documentary realism, the filmmakers illustrate how systems of law created to suppress dissent can paradoxically amplify activist platforms when groups embrace public transparency and accountability.
Climate Crisis Amid Global Political Dynamics
The documentary goes beyond domestic activism to situate climate change within larger geopolitical struggles that determine global power dynamics. As Wall and Hershey examine Climate Defiance’s mission to halt fossil fuel extraction on U.S. federal lands, they situate these efforts within global tensions rooted in resource competition. The filmmakers investigate how oil dependency has become intertwined with American foreign policy, creating a complex web where environmental degradation and military intervention amplify each other. By recording local activism, “Just Look Up” shows how decisions made in Washington ripple across continents, affecting marginalized groups and destabilizing regions already weighed down by climate impacts.
The film’s approach aligns with McKay’s own scrutiny of structural breakdowns in “Don’t Look Up,” applying similar skepticism to how policymakers favor fossil fuel interests over environmental stability. Wall stresses that environmental advocacy cannot be divorced from issues regarding which countries manage resources and who gains from extraction. The documentary shows that Climate Defiance’s confrontational tactics serve not merely as publicity stunts but as ideological declarations contesting the validity of policies that compromise environmental wellbeing for business profits. This geopolitical framing elevates the activists’ work from community activism to a challenge against established power systems functioning worldwide.
Connecting Environmental and Military Tensions
Through archival footage and activist testimonies, “Just Look Up” traces connections between reliance on fossil fuels and military aggression, illustrating how limited resources and climate-driven instability fuel geopolitical tensions. The documentary examines how U.S. military operations in petroleum-producing areas sustains extraction practices that accelerate environmental destruction. Climate Defiance members articulate this relationship explicitly, arguing that halting domestic oil extraction represents not only ecological imperative but also a step toward reducing military entanglement in resource-rich nations. The film presents these activists as offering an different approach of American power—one based on energy independence and environmental stewardship rather than imperialist dominance.
Hershey and Wall capture how younger activists view climate action as inherently tied to anti-war activism and resistance against imperialism. The documentary presents Climate Defiance members linking policy decisions in Congress and consequences in regions devastated by both environmental degradation and military conflict. By positioning climate activism within this geopolitical framework, the film maintains that confronting Big Oil domestically represents a form of opposition to the military-industrial complex itself. This perspective converts climate activism from a single-issue movement into a sweeping challenge to how American power operates globally.
Industry Support and Creative Direction
The documentary’s creation benefited from substantial support from the industry, with Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam McKay serving as executive producer partnering with Joshua Oppenheimer, director of the highly regarded “The Act of Killing.” McKay’s contribution proved instrumental in shaping the project’s direction during its formative stages. The “Don’t Look Up” director arranged a key virtual meeting during the pandemic period that brought together Wall, Hershey, scientists, researchers, and representatives from the Climate Emergency Fund. This gathering provided the filmmakers with data showing that sustained disruption by just 3.5% of a population can catalyze shifts in government policy—a statistic that became foundational to their understanding of Climate Defiance’s possible effects.
Wall and Hershey consciously avoided traditional documentary methods even though they had access to numerous experts through McKay’s network. Instead of producing a traditional talking-heads format based on scientific evidence, the directors embraced a verité observational and investigative approach that would document genuine activist moments and confrontations. This creative choice enabled them to emphasize direct action footage and unscripted encounters over explanatory dialogue. The filmmakers’ vision converted “Just Look Up” from a traditional climate documentary into an intimate portrait of youthful activists employing disruptive tactics to confront entrenched power structures.
- Adam McKay shaped and directed the documentary’s creative vision and methodology
- Joshua Oppenheimer joined as executive producer, bringing prestigious filmmaking experience
- Climate Emergency Fund collaboration facilitated expert access and research insights
- Filmmakers emphasized observational cinema over traditional evidence-based documentary formats