Necessity

Summary: This two-part film series unfolds around activists and their use of the necessity defense in jury trials in different regions of the US after being charged with trespassing. Legal strategies in the climate movement take center stage as Indigenous leaders and Native and non-Native activists respond to the growing climate emergency. From the Mississippi Headwaters, wild rice fields and Great Lakes in Part I to the rivers and mountains of the Columbia River Gorge in Part II, awe-inspiring terrains are sites of coordinated resistance to corporate expansion of oil through pipelines, rail and terminals to get their lethal products to market. As inspiring and hopeful as they are informative, the films show how alliances form around shared commitments to save the planet.