Description:

A man stands up and publicly burns his draft card in protest against the Vietnam War. By the war's end, thousands will be imprisoned for refusing to fight a war they think immoral. They form the vanguard of the largest youth-led resistance movement in U.S. history. Folk music diva Joan Baez, who learned the power of nonviolence from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., plays a central role. Dr. King visits Baez during her 45 day-jail term in Santa Rita Prison for blocking the Oakland Induction Center. He links the racial justice and peace movements in an impassioned speech delivered at the prison gates. And Dr. King stands at the side of World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali after he refuses induction – an act of faith heard round the world. Ehrlich introduces a score of these resistors, including David Harris, who falls in love with and marries Joan after seeking her support for his new organization, “The Resistance.”

Biography:

Judith Ehrlich co-produced and co-directed Oscar- and Emmy-nominated The Most Dangerous Man in America, Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers and The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It, both ITVS documentaries. She is the only person to twice win the top history film award from both the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians.

Christopher Jones, film originator and producer, was a retired health systems administrator and a former draft resister. He organized a reunion of seventy resisters in July 2013 that became the genesis of this film. He brought BOYS! to this point with the help of a staff experienced in film direction, production, and distribution, advisors both cinematic and activist, 142 volunteers, and his own gritty determination. Christopher died in a tragic accident in 2019.

Bill Prince is a retired psychiatrist whose involvement in the film dates back to the beginning -- the 2013 reunion of antiwar activists that was the genesis of the film. In the last year, he worked with the Advisory Team, most of them former resisters, and with the creative team to carry forward Christopher’s vision and bring BOYS! to completion and distribution.

Shown in collaboration with The Mill Valley Film Festival