{"id":16415,"date":"2018-01-18T12:55:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T20:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=films&p=16415"},"modified":"2025-05-20T11:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:01:00","slug":"no-mans-land","status":"publish","type":"films","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/no-mans-land\/","title":{"rendered":"No Man’s Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

With unfettered access, filmmaker David Byars gives a detailed, on-the-ground account of the 2016 standoff between protesters occupying Oregon\u2019s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and federal authorities during a 41-day siege. <\/span>No Man\u2019s Land <\/i><\/b>documents the occupation from inception to demise and tells the story of those on the inside of this movement, attempting to uncover what draws Americans \u2014 the ideologues, the disenfranchised, and the dangerously quixotic \u2014 to the edge of revolution.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In January of 2016, protesters gathered in Burns, Oregon to denounce the federal sentencing of two ranchers. During the protest, a group led by Ammon Bundy broke off and took over nearby Malheur Wildlife Refuge. The occupation quickly attracted a mix of right-wing militia and other dissidents. What began as a protest to condemn the sentencing morphed into a catchall for those eager to register their militant antipathy toward the federal government. The Malheur occupation drew the national spotlight, attracting media fascinated by the spectacle of cowboys and militia rebelling against the government, but also attracted the attention of the FBI, who set up a command center nearby to counter the occupiers.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the 41-day siege, director and cinematographer Byars was granted remarkable access to the inner workings of the insurrection as the militants went about the daily business of running an armed occupation before things ultimately took a bloody turn.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With unfettered access, filmmaker David Byars gives a detailed, on-the-ground account of the 2016 standoff between protesters occupying Oregon\u2019s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and federal authorities during a 41-day siege. No Man\u2019s Land documents the occupation from inception to demise and tells the story of those on the inside of this movement, attempting to uncover […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":16416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1259,1245,1257,1225],"class_list":["post-16415","films","type-films","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-civil-liberties","topic-crime","topic-law-administration","topic-politics-and-government"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNo Man's Land | Inside 2016 Oregon\u2019s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Standoff | Independent Lens | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With unfettered access,\u00a0No Man\u2019s Land\u00a0gives a detailed, on-the-ground account of the 2016 standoff between protesters occupying Oregon\u2019s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and federal authorities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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