Colorado Premiere of “Public Trust” Documentary Releases in Buena Vista on September 1

The award-winning documentary about public lands, Public Trust, will be having its Colorado premiere on September 1 in Buena Vista. Starting at 8 p.m. at the Comanche Drive-In, viewers can enjoy the film centered around the fight to protect America’s system of public lands and water. All ticket proceeds go to the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association.

This timely documentary, created with director David Garrett Byars and executive producers Yvon Chouinard, Robert Redford and Patagonia Films, will be released on Friday, September 25 ahead of National Public Lands Day 2020, one day later. 

Public Trust received the Audience Choice Award at the 2020 Mountainfilm in Telluride, Colorado, in addition to other awards.

The feature illustrates three land-based conflicts: the slashing of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, the potential permanent destruction of the Boundary Waters Wilderness in Minnesota, and the de facto sale of one of the last wild places in America, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The film makes a clear case for protecting public lands and how the extractive industries challenge their efforts.   

“Our country is fortunate to have millions of acres of public lands, including national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges and wilderness set aside for future generations,” says executive producer Robert Redford. “Sadly, these lands that belong to you and me are under unprecedented threats from the greed of big corporations, eager to weaken restrictions in the pursuit of profits. Many of our current politicians are also to blame. Public Trust tells the story of citizens who are fighting back. It’s a much-needed wake-up call for all of us who want to preserve our unique and wild cultural heritage.”

Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, says, “Imagine our country without our public lands, without protected parks and streams, wilderness and other wild places. If the oil companies and this administration continue to choose rigs over your kids’ future, we will lose what’s left of our shared 640 million acres. Public Trust is a must see for everyone who enjoys spending time in wild places.” 

Using research and interviews with tribal leaders, government whistleblowers, journalists and historians, Public Trust follows the people who are fighting back and the forces they are up against. Along the way, we meet the heroic activists who are defending the land from corrupt interests including: Angelo Baca, a Native American activist working to protect Bears Ears; Bernadette Dimientieff, a mother, grandmother and executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, an organization formed to protect the Arctic Wildlife Refuge; and Spencer Shaver, a fierce defender of the Boundary Waters Wilderness where he grew up hunting and fishing.