Lonely Oaks

A journey deep into the German climate activists’ world. In 2018, film student Steffen Meyn died in a tragic accident during a police raid in Hambach Forest. How far can and may activism go?

In 2018, climate activists occupied Hambach Forest in Western Germany, which energy company RWE planned to clear to expand the nearby lignite mine. It quickly became a symbol of resistance against politics and business. When the police cleared the forest, a young film student had a fatal accident: Steffen Meyn. For over two years he had been filming the events at the site, until he fell from one of the tree houses and died.

Lonely Oaks is composed of the footage Steffen Meyn left behind. We follow him closely via a 360° camera that was rigged to his helmet. We get to know the activists who are willing to risk their lives to protect the environment. The film offers very personal insights and highlights the paradoxes and hardships of an activist’s life: self-sacrifice, police violence and militancy, idealism and painful reality.