Nearly 200 Top Doc Makers Sign Open Letter of Support for Joe Berlinger

In the aftermath of a judge's ruling that may force filmmaker Joe Berlinger to hand over the outtakes from CRUDE to energy giant Chevron, nearly 200 top documentary filmmakers have signed "an open letter of support", protesting the breadth of the decision by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to allow Chevron to subpeona all of Berlinger's raw footage.

Noting that "it is understood that First Amendment protection of the journalist's privilege is never absolute", the letter goes on to note that "(t)ypically, if such privilege is successfully rebutted in court, a turn-over order demanding a document or other thing is issued..."

"Therefore, it is astounding to us that Judge Kaplan demanded that all of the footage shot during the production of the film be handed over to the attorneys of Chevron, given that the privilege exists primarily to protect against the wholesale exposure of press files to litigant scrutiny...

At the heart of journalism lies the trust between the interviewer and his or her subject.  Individuals who agree to be interviewed by the news media are often putting themselves at great risk, especially in the case of television news and documentary film where the subject's identity and voice are presented in the final report.  If witnesses sense that their entire interviews will be scrutinized by attorneys and examined in courtrooms they will undoubtedly speak less freely.  This ruling surely will have a crippling effect on the work of investigative journalists everywhere, should it stand."

Spearheaded by filmmaker Patrick Creadon and editor Doug Blush (who worked together on WORDPLAY and I.O.U.S.A.), the letter has been signed by a veritable who's who of the documentary community, including at least 20 Oscar winners (among them: Michael Moore, Alex Gibney, Rob Epstein, Barbara Kopple, Peter Davis, Davis Guggenheim, Freida Lee Mock, James Marsh, Louie Psihoyos, Ross Kauffman, Kevin Macdonald, Jessica Yu, Cynthia Wade, Mark Harris, Steven Okazaki and Leon Gast), and even more Oscar nominees (including DA Pennebaker, Morgan Spurlock, Laura Poitras, Kirby Dick, Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, Jeff Blitz, James Longley, Tia Lessin, Carl Deal, Ellen Kuras, Robert Kenner, Julia Reichert, Steven Bognar, Scott Kennedy, Hupert Sauper, Liz Garbus and Amy Berg) as well as dozens of the community's top filmmakers (Kim Longinotto, Jehane Noujaim, Chris Hegedus, R.J. Cutler, Nick Broomfield, Haskell Wexler, Steve James, Peter Gilbert, Ken Burns, Lucy Walker, Doug Pray and Amir Bar-Lev, among them).

[Full disclosure: I am also a signer on the letter.]

Work began on the letter on Saturday when Creadon reached out to a handful of filmmakers calling for a united community response in support of Berlinger.  A first draft on the letter was completed Sunday, with the IDA joining the effort and working with Creadon and others to finesse the language regarding the case's complex legal issues.  IDA President Eddie Schmidt took the letter to his Board of Directors, which decided to sign the letter en masse to make a statement on behalf of the organization. 

"Advocacy is an area where an organization like IDA can make a difference - and we should try to lead as much as we can," Schmidt told me.  "It seemed important to come out early and instrumentally, and luckily, we have a forward-thinking Board of Directors and an Executive Director who believe in making a stand."

Schmidt said that he was amazed at the support the letter garnered within the community in just a few short days.  "Those names say it all: who can argue with the greatest cinematic arguers of our time?"

In an email exchange, Creadon wrote about his reaction to the news as it broke last Thursday:

"I read the story in the New York Times Saturday morning and was stunned when I realized Joe was likely going to have to turn over all of his footage.  What many outside of our community do not realize is that of all the challenges facing documentary filmmakers, it's often the legal hurdles that prove to be most difficult.  And of course legal difficulties usually lead to big legal bills -- a particularly acute kind of pain that doesn't just hurt the individual but can often hurt that person's family and livelihood."

And earlier today, Blush described the chain of events that unfolded after the judge's decision was announced:

"I've worked on several films with critical interview confidentiality issues, and when I first saw the story Thursday, I was profoundly shaken by its implications.  Patrick called on Friday, and he was on fire.  He proposed bringing together doc community filmmakers around a statement of support, and wrote a first draft.  Since then, with many great suggestions and the incredible tidal wave of signatures, the statement is out there and Joe knows he's not alone in this.  My gratitude goes out to Eddie, the IDA, and this amazing global group of artists, and I believe this can be a first step to amend and increase the vital legal protections for our work."

The full text of the letter after the jump.

Filmmakers and others in the documentary community are invited to add their names to this open letter in the comments section of this post.

An open letter in support of Joe Berlinger

and the documentary filmmaking team of

"Crude"

As members of the documentary film community, we the undersigned strongly object to the Honorable Judge Lewis A. Kaplan's ruling last week in the case involving our colleague Joe Berlinger, the Chevron Corporation, and Berlinger's 600 hours of raw footage shot during production of his documentary film "Crude".

Judge Kaplan sided with Chevron and ruled that Berlinger must turn over all of his raw footage to Chevron for their use in the lawsuit discussed in the film.  Berlinger and his legal team plan to appeal the ruling.

In cases such as these involving access to a journalist's work material, whether they involve a newspaper or online reporter, a radio interviewer, a television news producer, or a documentary filmmaker, it is understood that First Amendment protection of the journalist's privilege is never absolute.  Typically, if such privilege is successfully rebutted in court, a turn-over order demanding a document or other thing is issued and the journalist must comply or face the consequences.  Therefore, it is astounding to us that Judge Kaplan demanded that all of the footage shot during the production of the film be handed over to the attorneys of Chevron, given that the privilege exists primarily to protect against the wholesale exposure of press files to litigant scrutiny.

While we commend Judge Kaplan for stating "that the qualified journalists' privilege applies to Berlinger's raw footage", we are nonetheless dismayed both by Chevron's attempts to go on a "fishing expedition" into the edit rooms and production offices of a fellow documentary filmmaker without any particular cause or agenda, and the judge's allowance of said intentions.  What's next, phone records and e-mails?

At the heart of journalism lies the trust between the interviewer and his or her subject.  Individuals who agree to be interviewed by the news media are often putting themselves at great risk, especially in the case of television news and documentary film where the subject's identity and voice are presented in the final report.  If witnesses sense that their entire interviews will be scrutinized by attorneys and examined in courtrooms they will undoubtedly speak less freely.  This ruling surely will have a crippling effect on the work of investigative journalists everywhere, should it stand.

Though many of us work independently of large news organizations, we nevertheless hold ourselves to the highest of journalistic standards in the writing, producing, and editing of our films.  In fact, as traditional news media finds itself taking fewer chances due to advertiser fears and corporate ownership, the urgency of bold, groundbreaking journalism through the documentary medium is perhaps greater than ever.

This case offers a clear and compelling argument for more vigorous federal shield laws to protect journalists and their work, better federal laws to protect confidential sources, and stronger standards to prevent entities from piercing the journalists' privilege.  We urge the higher courts to overturn this ruling to help ensure the safety and protection of journalists and their subjects, and to promote a free and vital press in our nation and around the world.

Patrick Creadon                   Doug Blush
Los Angeles, CA               Los Angeles, CA

Eddie Schmidt
President, International Documentary Association (IDA)

With the support of IDA's Board of Directors:

 Adam Chapnick, Beth Bird, Bob Niemack, Brian Gerber, Gilda Brasch,
Laurie Ann Schag, Marjan Safinia, Moises Velez, Pi Ware, Sara Hutchison,
Senain Kheshgi, Steven Reich, Sue West, Thomas Miller
Executive Director Michael Lumpkin

Supporting Filmmakers
Alex Gibney, Michael Moore, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Bruce Sinofsky,
Joan Churchill, Rob Epstein, Barbara Kopple, AJ Schnack, Kirby Dick,
Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg, Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, Freida Mock,
Terry Sanders, Marina Zenovich, Tia Lessin, Carl Deal,  Kevin Macdonald,
Ken Burns, Haskell Wexler, Ellen Kuras, Robby Kenner, Elise Pearlstein

Davis Guggenheim, Lesley Chilcott, Rory Kennedy, Jeff Blitz, Laura Poitras,
Marshall Curry, Ross Kauffman, Adam Del Deo, Hubert Sauper, Adam Hyman,
Richard Pearce, R.J. Cutler, Sam Pollard, Jessica Yu, Nick Broomfield,
Morgan Neville, Peter Gilbert, Steve James, Louie Psihoyos, Lucy Walker,
Pamela Yates

Morgan Spurlock, Bill Moyers, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Tom Weinberg,
Joel Cohen, Kate Amend, Anne Makepeace, Evangeline Griego, David Zeiger,
Chris Paine, Greg Barker, Skip Blumberg, Brian Strause, Joe Angio,
Ben Shedd, Brian Oakes, Dallas Rexer, John Maringouin, Jeff Malmberg,
David Van Taylor

Liz Garbus, Cara Mertes, Simon Kilmurry, Cynthia Wade, Stefan Forbes,
Jennifer Venditti, Peter Kinoy, Tom Putnam, Jessie Deeter, Robin Hessman,
Paco de Onis, Kim Longinotto, Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Sean Welch,
Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan, Kevin Walsh, Christine O'Malley,
Theodore James, Tomlinson Holman, Paola Di Florio, Martin Smith

Diane Weyermann, Jehane Noujaim, Leon Gast, Bill Guttentag,
Steven Okazaki, Peter Davis, Michael Tucker, Gabor Kalman,
Andrew Goldberg, Eva Orner, Christoph Baaden, Mark Lewis, Annie Roney,
Petra Epperlein, Christopher Quinn, Amy Berg, Douglas Chang,
Tina DiFeliciantonio, Jane C. Wagner

James Longley, James Marsh, Yance Ford, Lisa Rich, Tony Gerber,
Amy Ziering, Kurt Norton, Amanda Micheli, B. Ruby Rich,
Amir Bar-Lev, Jon Else, Judy Branfman, Lucy Phenix, Mike Tollin, Paul Mariano,
Jay Rosenblatt, Johanna Demetrakas, Kristine Samuelson, John Haptas    

 Robert Greenwald, Terry Zwigoff, Laura Gabbert, Matt Tyrnauer, Anna Thomas,
Doug Block, Ken Schneider, Gary Cohen, Peter Gerard, Nathan Truesdell,
Chris Smith, Bob Richman, Sandy McLeod, Judith Katz, Paul Rachman,
Hilari Scarl, Jonathan Stack, Shirley Moyers, Andrew Berends

Lynne Littman, Mark J Harris, Thom Powers, Lauren Greenfield,
Theodore Braun, Mary Ann Braubach, Frederick Gerten, Seth Gordon,
Celia Maysles, Buddy Squires, Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill, Henry Alex Rubin,
Rick Goldsmith, Bob Hercules, Jim Morrissette, Howard Weinberg,
Judith Helfand, Andrew Garrison, Rebecca Chaiklin, Doug Pray,
Katy Chevigny, Sarah Gibson, Daniel Junge, Ted Hope,
Tom Fontana, Doug Zwick, Michael Winship, Matt Zoller Seitz

Comments

[Ruth Leitman]

Ruth Leitman

[Barbara Rick]

Please add my name in support of fellow filmmaker Joe Berlinger. -Barbara Rick, Out of The Blue Films, Inc.

[Mark Bell]

Add my name to the list, definitely.

[Davis McGraw]

Hope this turns out well for Joe & co. Can't imagine losing an entire production's worth of footage. You can add my name.

Davis McGraw (Filmmaker, VT)

[James McNally]

Not a filmmaker, just a humble blogger but would like to add my support to that of all the fine filmmakers above.

[Nev Pierce]

Nev Pierce - concerned freelance journalist and Editor-At-Large for Empire, the world's biggest movie magazine.

[Jane Weiner]

Jane Weiner

[Katie]

Please add my name to this letter. I have met Joe before and am a great admirer of his work, particularly in this great documentary which I have been lucky enough to see:

Katie Tibaldi (Filmmaker, NYC/Traverse City, MI)

[MARK RAPPAPORT]

Add my name, if you're still taking names--
Mark Rappaport

[Magdalena Hutter]

Magdalena Hutter

[Lynda A. Hansen]

Please add my name in support if Joe Berlinger.
Lynda A. Hansen

[Andrew James]

Please add my name: Andrew James (Filmmaker, co-director of CLEANFLIX)

[Gwendolen Cates]

Please add my name
Gwendolen Cates

[Veton Nurkollari]

Please add my name also in support of Joe Berlinger.
Veton Nurkollari

[Melody Gilbert]

Add my name, please:
Melody Gilbert, Frozen Feet Films

[Mark Daniels]

Mark Daniels

Please add my name. I fully support Joe Berlinger.

[Sarah Goodman]

Please add my name in support of Joe Berlinger.

Sarah Goodman (Army of One, When We Were Boys)

[Stephen Saito]

Stephen Saito

[matthies]

Add us in - Eric Matthies, Tricia Todd

[Larry Locke]

Larry Locke

[Eddie Rosenstein]

I would like to add my name in support as well. Eddie Rosenstein

[Cheree Dillon]

Please add my name in support of Joe Berlinger and his work at exposing the truth.

Cheree Dillon, filmmaker NYC

[Justine Nagan]

On behalf of myself and the Kartemquin community, Justine Nagan

[Audrey Ewell]

Add Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell, directors of the documentary Until The Light Takes Us. I'd make a joke about how crude this ruling is... but unfortunately this is taking corporate hegemony to a whole new level. Good luck to Joe, and good luck to us all.

[Jill Orschel]

In support of Joe Berlinger
--Jill Orschel

[Spencer Kehe]

Spencer Kehe

[Paul Fischer]

Please definitely add me - Paul Fischer, producer and documentary filmmaker at Ten Cent Adventures

[Peter Miller]

Please add me as a supporter.

Peter Miller

[Gaylen Ross]

please add my name in support
Gaylen Ross

[Michael Palmieri]

Add me, please.
Michael Palmieri

[jeanie Finlay]

Please add me
Jeanie Finlay

[Chris Shellen]

Please add Chris Shellen

[Carter Gunn]

Please add my name to list.
Carter Gunn

[Andrew]

Please add me. Andrew Lang

[michele dieterich]

Please add my name to the list:

Michele Dieterich

[Julianna Brannum]

Julianna Brannum

[Francis Coakley]

Please add my name to the list:
Francis X. Coakley

[David Wilson]

I'd be honored to be added - David Wilson

[natalie gravenor]

Please add my name. Natalie gravenor, festival programmer, Berlin. Thanks.

[Elizabeth Westrate]

Please add my name,
Elizabeth Westrate.

[Aaron Warren]

Please add my name

Aaron Warren

[Sarah George]

I support Joe Berlinger, independent media-makers and brave individuals around the word who are willing to share their stories. Please add my name.

-Sarah George

[Yana Gorskaya]

Please add me -- Yana Gorskaya

[Zadi Diaz]

You can add my name as a supporter as well: Zadi Diaz.

[JORGE PRIOR]

It is not only a local problem, please add me to the supporting list.

JORGE PRIOR / MEXICO /

[John Chester]

Please add my name
JOHN CHESTER

[Jason Mann]

Please add me: Jason Mann, Pull-Start Pictures

[Charles Vogl]

Please add me - Charles Vogl

[John Grabowska]

John Grabowska

[Kirk Simon]

Please add my name:
Kirk Simon

[Nicholas Bruckman]

Nicholas Bruckman

[Deirdre Fishel]

Please add my name! Deirdre Fishel

[Suzanne]

Add Suzanne Taylor, Producer/Director "What On Earth? Inside the Crop Circle Mystery"

[Claire Marie Panke]

Please add my name: Claire Panke

[Gretta Wing Miller]

Add our names in support of Joe Berlinger and the overturning of this ruling by Judge Kaplan.
Gretta Wing Miller
Aarick Beher
Documentary Filmmakers, Madison WI
downtowndailies.com

[Pegi Vail]

In support! Pegi Vail

[Fiona Otway]

Fiona Otway

[John Burgan]

John Burgan Co-Host, The D-Word

[Jasmine Dellal]

Please add my namein support - Jasmine Dellal. Thanks!

[Aaron Schock]

In full support - Aaron Schock

[Harry Hanbury]

Harry Hanbury

[Saartje Geerts]

add my name

[Koen Suidgeest]

Koen Suidgeest, director/producer
El Rayo Films S.L., Madrid (Spain)

[Mheeder]

pls add my name: Matthias Heeder, Hamburg/Germany

[Beth Portello]

Beth Portello, Cinema LIbre Studio

[Michelle Le Brun]

Please add my name in support of this important issue.
Michelle Le Brun

[Rick Allen]

Count me in.
Rick Allen, Nautilus Productions

[Aaron Soffin]

Aaron Soffin

[Dan Lohaus]

Please add my name:

Dan Lohaus
Director, When I Came Home

[Francisco Bello]

Francisco Bello

[Christen Marquez]

Please add my name in support. Christen Marquez.

[Maria Yatskova-Ibrahimova]

Maria Yatskova-Ibrahimova

[Nancy du Plessis]

Please add my name: Nancy du Plessis

[Chuck Braverman]

Add my name of support.

[Stéphane M. Grueso]

Please, add my name to the list:

Stéphane M. Grueso
elegant mob films
Spain

[Sara Terry]

Please add my name,
Sara Terry, Filmmaker, Los Angeles

[Augusta Palmer]

Please add my name in support: Augusta Palmer.
Thanks!

[Erin D.]

Erin Donovan.

[Andre Dahlman]

Please add my name: Andre Dahlman

[Mark Kendall]

Mark Kendall

[Carolyn Arnold]

Count me in as an advocate. Carolyn Arnold

[Paul Wagner]

Please add my name in support. Paul Wagner

[Dana Bartle]

Please add my name in support:
Dana Bartle Director Raise It Up For Ma Dukes

[Philip Owens]

In support - Philip Owens

[Dan balluff]

Please add my name!
Dan Balluff
Light Beam Productions - Minneapolis
Minneapolis MN

[Michael Kovalenko]

Strongly supportive of this letter. The Fourth Estate must thrive if society is to have any real democratic functions.

[Suree Towfighnia]

In full support,
Suree Towfighnia and Prairie Dust Films

[Richard Knox Robinson]

Please add my name to the list. My short film premiered at Sundance with Berlinger's Crude in 2009 and I am horrified to see this happening to Berlinger. This ruling threatens all documentary filmmakers. Who will stand up to the Oil Companies now?

Richard Knox Robinson

[Alidra Solday]

Please add my name in support of Joe
Berlinger on this matter.
Alidra Solday, Solday Productions

[Mikal Jakubal]

Mikal Jakubal

[Robert Rooy]

Please add my name as well. Fundamental rights are at stake.
Robert Rooy, Rooy Media LLC

[ron deutsch]

add my name please, Ron Deutsch -- been there before with our film on tom delay (the big buy).

[Mark Freeman]

Please add my name

Mark Freeman
Professor
Theatre, Television and Film
San Diego State University

[Regan Brashear]

Please add my name: Regan Brashear

[Karen Cirillo]

Karen Cirillo

[Jaime Cruz]

Add my name please. Jaime Cuz, México

[Anne Checler]

Please add my name: Anne Checler

[charlene]

Charlene Rule

[Paul Miil]

Add
Paul Miil

[andrea]

Please add my name in support of Joe Berlinger and the protection of a free and vital press.
Andrea Kreuzhage, 1000 Journals