"I was looking for an interesting documentary about where things were going in land management," says Turnbow, a senior producer for content for DirecTV and AT&T. In a phone call from his home base in Los Angeles, Turnbow says he'd long been interested in the topic of land disputes in the west. He was also hearing reports about right-wing extremism and anti-government movements. "We were talking to Cliven Bundy in the summer of 2015," Turnbow says, referring to the Nevada rancher whose refusal to pay grazing fees led to an armed confrontation with government agents in 2014 on federal land near Bundy's ranch. When two of Bundy's sons, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy, along with a group of armed protesters, took control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January, 2016, "We were on the ground two days later, filming," Turnbow says. "American Standoff" begins by recounting events that led up to the occupation. Turnbow, who was also the cinematographer, pays particular attention to the case of Dwight Hammond Jr., and his son, Steven. The Harney County ranchers were convicted of arson for setting fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006. After initially being sentenced to serve lesser sentences, an appeals court ruled each of the Hammonds instead had to serve five-year mandatory minimum prison terms, with credit for time served. The Hammonds' case became a rallying point for members of self-identified militia and patriot groups, some of whom joined Ammon and Ryan Bundy when they took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, about 30 miles south of Burns. "American Standoff" features a mix of digital content that was circulating online as the Oregon standoff was happening, along with interviews filmed by Turnbow and his small crew...more
American Standoff" premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 4 on DirecTV, and can be streamed on DirecTVNow (if you don't already have DirecTV, you can sign up for a free trial to stream the documentary at directvnow.com/
Here is the trailer for the documentary
https://youtu.be/A11UI1D3H0s
1 comment:
I wonder if the documentary will include the Erin Maupin interviews of the neighboring ranchers who were maliciously harassed and abused repeatedly at FBI roadblocks while going to feed their cattle after the occupation ended.
On "Christmas Valley Happenings" facebook January 7, 2016 post, Robin Barlow visited the occupation and posted lots of pic's.
He stated that his friend, who's a friend of the Hammonds, was mad that after he explained for 30 minutes on a t.v. news camera about all the problems ranchers were having with BLM, all that was aired was him saying:
"Well, something needs to be done"
I know they can't air the entire interview, but "Well, something needs to be done" was most informative statement they could find out of 30 minutes???
Too bad somebody didn't video the interviewer, proof of the bias between what was aired and what was left out.
This type of biased portrayal is the BIGGEST obstacle in farming and ranching today.
The gov gets away with its abuse because the larger urban population gets it's perspective from the gov influenced media.
We have a small window of opportunity before the next election to change the urban public's perspective and counter-attack the biased media or we'll be right back where we were before the last election.
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