- An Act of Conscience
Infobox Film
name = An Act of Conscience
image_size = 120
caption =
director =Robbie Leppzer
producer = Robbie Leppzer
writer = Robbie Leppzer andSara Elinoff
narrator =Martin Sheen
starring =Randy Kehler andBetsy Corner
music =Steven Schoenberg
cinematography = Robbie Leppzer
editing = Robbie Leppzer
distributor = Cinemax & Turning Tide Productions
released = 1997
runtime = 90 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.turningtide.com/aoc.htm
amg_id =
imdb_id ="An Act of Conscience" is a 1997 documentary film by Robbie Leppzer about the war
tax resistance ofRandy Kehler andBetsy Corner and years-long struggle that ensues after theIRS seizes their home inColrain ,Massachusetts in 1989, to recover $27,000 in unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest.cite video
people = Robbie Leppzer (director)
year = 1997
date =
title = An Act of Conscience
url =
format =
medium = DVD
publisher = Turning Tide Productions
location = Wendell, MA
accessdate = 2007-06-15
accessmonth=
accessyear =
time =
quote = ] The film premiered atSundance Film Festival and was shown onCinemax and theSundance Channel .cite web |url=http://www.turningtide.com/aoc.htm |title=An Act of Conscience |accessdate=2007-06-16 |format=HTML |work=Turning Tide Productions] It is narrated byMartin Sheen and features cameo appearances by activist-priestDaniel Berrigan and political folksingerPete Seeger .Plot
After the house is seized, the couple and their daughter refuse to move out and Kehler is arrested on December 3, 1991, by US Marshals and IRS agents. Community supporters move in, helping them to occupy the house. On February 12, 1992, the still-occupied house--but not the land, which belongs to the Valley Community Land Trust--is sold at auction to Danny Franklin and Terry Charnesky for $5400; the IRS had failed to receive any monetary bids at an earlier auction. The sale results in suits and countersuits between the Franklin-Charnesky family and the Land Trust. Despite the sale of the house, the Kehler-Corner occupiers refuse to leave. However, on April 15, 1992, while Kehler, Corner, and their supporters are away, Franklin, Charnesky, and their supporters move-in and occupy the house. Kehler, Corner, and their supporters begin a lively protest and round-the-clock vigil just outside the house, eventually even building a small wooden structure to shelter the protesters. On May 28, 1993, the Franklin County Superior court issues an injunction against the Kehler-Corner protests and, subsequently, several protesters are arrested and jailed after violating the injunction. Still, the protest continues until September, when they are finally discontinued. The battle over the house is ended in December 31, 1993, when an out-of-court settlement is reached between the Land Trust and the Franklin-Charnesky family, who agree to leave the house and deed it and the land-lease to the land trust in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money.cite web |url=http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj9404&article=940441d |title=Conscience, Community, and Compromise
accessmonthday=16 June |accessyear=2007 |author=Randy Kehler |year=1994 |month=June |work=Sojourners |archiveurl=http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:OasWrGz6bC4J:www.sojo.net/index.cfm%3Faction%3Dmagazine.article%26issue%3Dsoj9404%26article%3D940441d+%22Valley+Community+Land+Trust%22+colrain |archivedate=2007-04-16 ]References
External links
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/gee/gee15.html "The Great Anti-War Films: An Act of Conscience."] A review by Rick Gee at [http://www.lewrockwell.com/ lewrockwell.com] .
* [http://www.hrw.org/iff-97/filmko/leppacto.html Film description and director profile] at theHuman Rights Watch film festival site.
* [http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/umass/mu241_series.html Description of personal, legal, and media papers about the "Colrain Action,"] archived in the Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
* [http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj9404&article=940441d "Conscience, Community, and Compromise"] by Randy Kehler in "Sojourners ", April, 1994, (free registration required).
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