As a film I have supported on this blog by promoting it, to find out this news about CHEVRON going after this filmmaker is very unnerving to say the least. The oil industry is general is on shaky grounds with the BP oil spill, something I have yet to write about on this blog. Please read the following correspondence about how you can support this film against CHEVRON, the 3rd largest corporation in the US.
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Join the fight for the First Amendment rights of the makers of CRUDE and documentary filmmakers everywhere!

As many of you may have seen in the press, the makers of CRUDE were recently served with subpoenas by Chevron, in an effort to gain access to the nearly 600 hours of raw footage accumulated during the making of the film. Our attorneys filed a response, stating that our footage is protected by the journalist’s privilege and forcing us to hand it over to a third party (either Chevron, the plaintiffs’ lawyers, or anyone else) is a violation of our First Amendment rights. A hearing was held on Friday, April 30th in New York. But on Thursday, May 6th, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled in Chevron's favor.

We are appealing this decision, as we feel it is a violation of our First Amendment rights and could have a seriously chilling effect on documentary filmmakers and journalists everywhere. We appreciate the incredible outpouring of support from people in the documentary community and allies all over the world, and we hope that this extremely troubling situation will conclude in our favor, but we need your help to put up the fight.

Defending ourselves against Chevron, the third largest corporation in America, is extraordinarily costly. We have set up a Kickstarter page as a way for our supporters to help us raise funds for our defense against Chevron and stand up in favor of the future of documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism.

Please donate whatever you can and pass this email and Kickstarter link on to others who may be interested in supporting the cause. On the Kickstarter page, we are offering signed CRUDE DVDs and posters as well as CRUDE American Apparel T-shirts as small tokens of thanks for your generous support.

In addition to the substantial amount of personal funds Joe Berlinger has already put toward this case, we have set our public funding goal at $20,000 (a small fraction of the total cost) by the end of June. With your pledge, you can play an active role and make a very real difference in what has quite rapidly spiraled into an historic battle for the freedom of the press, the protection of journalists, and the foundation of documentary film.

For more articles on the case, please visit the CRUDE Blog.

Thank you.

-Joe Berlinger & Team CRUDE

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