Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action

Fierce Light continues filmmaker Velcrow Rippers quest for a fusion between spirituality and activism previously explored in his award-winning Scared Sacred (2005).

The 2006 murder of friend and filmmaker Brad Will in protest-torn Oaxaca, Mexico, is the impetus for Ripper’s journey, which takes him to “ground zeroes” of spiritual activism around the world, including Montgomery, Alabama; Robben Island, South Africa; Andrah, India; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and South Central Los Angeles, where a months-long protest against the razing of a vital community garden provides a highly dramatic spine for the wide-ranging film.

En route, Ripper encounters a number of eloquent icons, including Congressman John Lewis, Daryl Hannah, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker, bell hooks, and Julia Butterfly Hill.