Tim DeChristopher

In their documentary “Bidder 70,” Beth Gage and George Gage tell the story of Tim DeChristopher. In 2008, as George W. Bush tried to give the energy and mining industries thousands of acres of pristine Utah wilderness via a widely disputed federal auction, DeChristopher, then a college student bid $1.7 million, and won 22,000 acres with no intention to drill. For this act of civil disobedience he was sent to federal prison, but his actions helped ignite a movement. “Bidder 70” opens May 17 at the Quad.

When the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctioned off oil and gas drilling leases in Salt Lake City, Utah last month, some activists stood outside and protested. But Tim DeChristopher...