Tim Hjersted is a familiar face to electronic music fans in Lawrence, but, turntables aside, the 23-year-old DJ wants to mix it up on the political stage, too. Earlier this year, he and a handful of fellow Lawrencians created Films for Action, a group aimed at giving more power to the people by showing them documentaries on issues ranging from oil consumption to organic food production. Let's be honest, though. It's easy to make some fliers, show a film and fancy yourself an activist. Hjersted and his crew don't let themselves — or their audiences — off that easily. When they screened a movie about the end of cheap oil, they crafted a city resolution asking to study the issue and started a petition to get it introduced. When the audience poured out of a showing of Sir, No Sir, about dissent within the armed forces, an anti-war demonstration started outside. They draw hundreds to Liberty Hall, but they're also promoting a changing lineup of films each month on the public-access station. And they've started a Lending Library, so folks can borrow the kinds of documentaries they won't find at Blockbuster.
