Film
Meet the ACLU Lawyers Fighting Trump For Our Rights in New Doc

“They really are heroes — they are our Avengers,”
July 30 2020 11:35 AM EST
May 31 2023 4:14 PM EST
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“They really are heroes — they are our Avengers,”
he last four years under the Trump administration has been almost unimaginable in terms of attacks on human rights. Under his tenure, Trump has assaulted the rights of immigrants, women, LGBTQ+ people, and more in what seems to be an unfailing campaign to increasingly marginalize the already marginalized. But, at almost every turn the American Civil Liberties Union has met him.
A new documentary titled The Fight by documentary filmmaker Elyse Steinberg, Magnolia Pictures, and producer Kerry Washington follows the 'Avengers' that are waging that war. Over the span of the last three years, cameras have followed immigration rights lawyer Lee Gelernt, voting rights lawyer Dale Ho, reproductive rights lawyer Brigitte Amiri, and LGBTQ+ rights lawyer Chase Strangio. Collectively, in the film, this team fights the trans military ban, the government separating asylum-seeking families, restricted access to abortion, and more.
The footage shows the lawyers practicing their statements at home, meeting with clients, and in court. But more than that, it also shows the pushback that they receive every day. In a clip, they read off the hate mail they are sent as a result of their fight, but they all say that it's important to read and know what they are up against.
"They really are heroes -- they are our Avengers," Washington told TheWrap at the Sundance Film Festival. "Their day job is saving the world!"
The project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January where it won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking.
The Fight its streaming services on July 31.
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