Joaquin Phoenix executive produced this film about what happens when activists were declared terrorists speaking against animal testing performed by Huntingdon Life Sciences. “The Animal People” was filmed over a decade. Times change, but the questions raised by the film persist in modern culture. INTERVIEWED: Jake Conroy, defendant in the case Josh Harper, defendant in the case Casey Suchan, co-director Mikko Alanne, producer Jorja Fox, producer Sasha Perry, producer/editor
Film synopsis: Fifteen years in the making, this feature documentary - executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix - follows the journey of six young Americans who find themselves targeted as terrorists by the US government for their involvement in a controversial protest campaign. Seeing the future of social movement organizing, the activists used the then fledgling internet to dramatically magnify their impact as they systematically knocked out the pillars of financial support that kept the company in business. But when letter writing and protests began to mushroom into dead-of-night vandalism and worse by unknown activists, this corporation and the government formed an alliance to destroy the group. The FBI began an unprecedented campaign of surveillance in preparation for prosecution, creating a model that would later be used against Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. Congress, under corporate influence, rewrote laws and bent the definition of incitement in order to accomplish the prosecution of these six, potentially weakening free speech rights for all Americans. Featuring expansive interviews with the activists spanning over a decade, rare archival footage - including never-before-seen FBI undercover surveillance tapes, wiretaps and government documents, The Animal People is a chilling portrait of what happens when activism rattles the institutions of power.
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