Los Angeles, CA. April 10th. Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American DVD, and VOD rights to the 2-part environmental documentary Necessity. Necessity Part One: Oil, Water & Climate Resistance will be available to rent/own. On DVD and digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms starting on May 2, 2023. Necessity Part Two: Climate Justice & The Thin Green Line. It will be available starting on May 9, 2023 – both through Freestyle Digital Media.
Necessity Part One: Oil, Water & Climate Resistance traces the fight in Minnesota. It does so against the expansion of pipelines carrying highly toxic tar sands oil through Native lands. And essential waterways in North America. Front line communities – native peoples and communities of color – suffer the most immediate and severe consequences. Of the climate crisis: impacts on physical and mental health as well as territorial desecration and displacement.
Watch Official Trailer for Necessity (Part I): Oil, Water & Climate Resistance
The documentary follows Indigenous leaders and white allies, using direct action to protect the sacred and demand justice. Tribal attorney, and activist Tara Houska and Honor the Earth water protector Debra Topping guide this journey. Through critical geographical and political terrain, along with other legal experts. Who expose the disparate treatment in the justice system. And the legal strategy of climate activists in using the necessity defense. Which makes a moral case for acts of civil disobedience.
Necessity Part Two: Climate Justice & The Thin Grenn Line is set along the rivers of Oregon and the Columbia Gorge. We meet Lauren Regan, a criminal defense attorney using this same strategy to defend her clients. Including social worker and Umatilla tribal elder, Cathy Sampson-Kruse, arrested for blocking a megaload carrying toxic materials. Attorney Direlle Calica takes us through intertribal alliances. That are at the heart of a regional fight over oil trains and terminals.
Watch Official Trailer for Necessity (Part II): Climate Justice & The Thin Green Line
We hear some of the dilemmas that arise around the use of the necessity defense and see the jury trial of activists using this defense in Oregon. The events unfold around an oil train explosion that came near to devastating Mosier, a small town along the Columbia River. This story of climate resistance along the rivers of Oregon brings into view a historical landscape of tribes resisting oil trains and trucks carrying these highly inflammable products through treaty lands.
Written by Jan Haaken, a filmmaker and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Portland State University Necessity was co-directed by Haaken and Samantha Praus, a fellow researcher and filmmaker. Necessity was produced by Jan Haaken, David Cress, Tara Johnson-Medinger, Haunani Kalama, and Cathy Sampson-Kruse.
“Storytelling through documentary films plays an important role in how we picture the climate crisis and how we catch glimmers of paths forward,” said filmmaker Jan Haaken. “In Necessity Part One, we see water protector Tara Houska explaining that ‘There is beauty and purpose in struggle.’ In our filmmaking process, we sought to bring visual power and drama to this idea.
Necessity shows the creativity and courage of people from different backgrounds and regions of the country who come together to stop industries that threaten their communities and life on the planet. As a team of activist filmmakers, we are so gratified to see these powerful stories brought to screens and audiences everywhere.”
About The Press Release
The digital distribution unit of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, digital and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films.
Recent releases include Dear Zoe starring Sadie Sink from the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, Jessica Capshaw and Theo Rossi, Best Summer Ever the teen musical featuring a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities, produced by Jamie Lee Curtis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, The Wedding Year starring Sarah Hyland and Anna Camp, The Last Photograph starring Danny Houston, Berserk starring Nick Cannon, Untogether starring Jamie Doran, Jemima Kirke, Ben Mendelsohn, Alice Eve and Billy Crystal.
Other Freestyle titles include the action-comedy Better Start Running starring Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons and Maria Bello, The Bachelors starring Academy Award-winner J.K. Simmons, Julie Delpy and Odeya Rush, the award-winning documentary Hondros produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Jake Gyllenhaal, horror documentary Demon House starring Zak Bagans, host of Travel Channel’s highest rated show Ghost Adventures, sci-fi thriller The Recall starring Wesley Snipes, Miles starring Molly Shannon, and Paul Reiser.
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