Dear Friends,

As always, we need to extend our most sincere THANKS to everyone who has already donated to our fund through this site. We are so incredibly grateful for your support and are now approaching our new goal of reaching $30k by midnight tomorrow! There's only ONE DAY LEFT to donate to our CRUDE First Amendment Fund, so if you have family and friends who you have not yet passed this link on to, we hope you will take a moment to do so now.

As many of you may know and undoubtedly played a part, Team CRUDE experienced a truly incredible wave of support in the last few days. First, our special CRUDE legal defense benefit screening was a huge success, playing to a sold-out crowd and featuring a lively panel (see: http://thefilmpanelnotetaker.com/crude-screening-benefit-for-joe-berlinger’s-legal-defense-fund) that included CRUDE's director Joe Berlinger, his lead attorney Maura Wogan, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, WGAe President Michael Winship, and moderated by the one and only Thom Powers. HUGE THANKS to everybody who came out last Tuesday! We know that due to limited seating, not all who showed up at IFC were able to attend, and we hope you will continue to check back on our site for more information on possible upcoming CRUDE events throughout the summer.

In addition to the sold-out benefit screening, as recently reported in Variety (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118020991.html...), The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100624-711620.html) and IndieWIRE (http://www.indiewire.com/article/growing_coalition_backing_filmmakers_battle_with_chevron/) among other outlets, Berlinger's fight to defend his footage received the brilliant support of many filmmaking peers in the IDA's amici curiae brief (http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php...) penned by Michael Donaldson of Donaldson and Callif on behalf of the IDA, DGA, WGA, PGA, IFP, Latino Public Broadcasting, documentary filmmakers Alex Gibney and Tia Lessin, and more.

That brief may be viewed in full here (http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/docs/20100624_172220_other_brief.pdf) and has been filed in addition to leading constitutional and first amendment expert Floyd Abrams' brief that now has the support of virtually every major media outlet including: ABC, Inc., The Associated Press, CBS Broadcasting, Inc., The Daily News, LP, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., Gannett Company, Inc., Hearst Corporation, HBO, Inc., The National Press Photographers Association, NBC Universal, Inc., The New York Times Company, PEN American Center, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, The Society of Environmental Journalists, and The Washington Post.

To see the full Abrams brief, please click here: http://www.crudethemovie.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Abrams-Brief.pdf

We are once again deeply moved and grateful for the continued outpouring of support from our most esteemed peers and all of you, and we take great pride in trusting that it will continue regardless of the outcome of this case.

Our formal appellate hearing is scheduled for July 14th in New York City. We will continue to keep you updated on this case as it develops.

We ask once more that in this last 24 hours, you help us reach our $30k goal ($500 to go!) and we hope you will continue to support us as we march toward our July 14th court date.

Thank you.

-Team CRUDE

Dear Friends,

We cordially invite you to the upcoming CRUDE benefit screening and panel discussion, co-sponsored by the IDA and WGA, happening this Tuesday, June 22nd at 8p at IFC Center (6th Ave. & W. 3rd St.) in NYC.

A 45-minute panel discussion featuring Joe, his lead attorney Maura Wogan, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, WGAe President Michael Winship, and others will follow the screening, focusing on the rights and roles of documentary filmmakers as independent journalists in today's global media landscape.

If you have already seen CRUDE, you may purchase tickets to just attend the post-screening panel discussion (please arrive at the theater by 9:30 to ensure your entry into the auditorium).

Here's the link to the event: http://stfdocs.com/films/crude_legal_defense_fundraiser/

To purchase tickets: https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp...

Please pass this info on to NYC friends and family you think may be interested.

We thank you once more for your incredible support!

Hope to see you at IFC.

Best,
Team CRUDE
www.crudethemovie.com

Dear Friends,

As some of you may have already read in the last 24 hours, yesterday in New York City, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that CRUDE's director Joe Berlinger will be awarded a full hearing in July on his appeal, and as a result, the district court’s May 20th order directing Berlinger to produce the footage will be suspended during the pendency of the appeal. This is truly great news for us, as our fight to protect our footage, sources, and journalistic process trudges on, and we are so happy to be able to share this news with you, our wonderful supporters.

Berlinger’s lead attorney, Maura Wogan of Frankfurt Kurnit, said the decision “signals that the appeals court takes seriously the rights of investigative journalists like Joe Berlinger,” and Berlinger is “delighted that the appellate court seems to understand the significant public interest in our appeal being heard.”

We cannot thank all of you enough for your amazing support over the last few weeks! We are thrilled to announce that we have reached our initial goal of $20k and wanted to extend a personal thanks to the nearly 400 of you who have supported us through this page. BUT, as our legal bills continue to pile up through the duration of this appeal, and our initial goal of $20k is only a small fraction of our total cost, we are continuing to accept donations for this First Amendment Fund through June 30th, 2010 (at midnight Eastern time), and would greatly appreciate your continued help in sharing this link with your families, friends, and communities. We are truly and deeply moved by the support we have received so far and hope you will help us continue to spread the word over the next three weeks.

In addition to your inspiring efforts, we’ve continued to be moved by how this case has made headlines across the country. We’ve received incredible support from the film and journalism communities, including open letters from the IDA,DGA, WGA, and a friend-of-the-court brief from leading First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams on behalf of 13 major media companies. As eloquently articulated by many esteemed members of the press and independent film legends—from the editors of The Los Angeles Times to Michael Moore, Bill Moyers, Robert Redford and most recently, Norman Lear—a ruling in favor of Chevron would be a grave violation of Berlinger’s First Amendment rights and will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on documentary filmmakers and journalists worldwide. The stay that was granted today will allow us to argue the merits of our position before the Court, and for that, along with your empowering support, we are truly grateful.

Please keep passing this First Amendment Fund on, and STAY TUNED.

Thank you all!

Very Truly Yours,
-Team CRUDE

Some recent articles on the case include:
-Brent Lang's "Court Grants Stay for 'Crude' Director" (http://www.thewrap.com/article/new-york-court-grants-stay-crude-director-18143)

-KCRW Interview w/ Joe Berlinger (http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/pc/pc100608joe_berlingers_crude)

-Norman Lear's "Was Oil Named 'Crude' Because of the Way Oil Compaies Do Business?" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-lear/was-oil-named-crude-becau_b_604741.html)

-David Folkenfilk's "A 'Crude' Awakening: Chevron vs. the Documentarian" (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php...)

-Robert Redford's "Joe Berlinger vs. Chevron: Why We Must All Defend Independent Filmmaking" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/joe-berlinger-vs-chevron_b_600433.html)

-Ted Johnson's "New Twist in 'Crude' Suit"
(http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118020196.html...)

-Dave Itzkoff's "Media Companies File Brief on Behalf of Filmmaker in Chevron Case" (http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/media-companies-file-brief-on-behalf-of-filmmaker-in-chevron-case/)

-LA Times Editorial "Chevron Sues Over 'Crude': A Documentary's Unused Footage, Akin to Reporters' Notes, Should be Protected"
(http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-chevron-20100521,0,3553969.story)

-Bill Moyers' & Michael Winship's "Chevron's 'Crude' Attempt to Suppress Free Speech"
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/chevrons-crude-attempt-to_b_576595.html)

-John Shwartz & Dave Itzkoff's "Should a Documentary Filmmaker Get a Journalist's Privilege?"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08pollution.html...)

-Dave Itzkoff's "Oscar Winners Back Filmmaker in Dispute With Chevron"
(http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/oscar-winners-back-filmmaker-in-dispute-with-chevron/...)

*For more articles on the case, please visit http://www.crudethemovie.com/crude-blog/

Dear Friends,

First and foremost, we would like to extend a HUGE THANKS to all of you who have supported our cause. In less than 5 days, we have raised over $7,500 for our legal defense. We have been truly overwhelmed and humbled by this wonderful outpouring of support. As expressed in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/20/opinion/la-ed-chevron-20100521), it's clear that the trajectory of this case has far-reaching implications well beyond our own struggle. We know that your pledge is not simply for our legal defense against Chevron but for the much larger issues at stake in this battle. This is a critical month for us as we continue to fight for what we believe is right.

As reported in the New York Times, (http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/reprieve-for-filmmaker-in-dispute-with-chevron/), we are moving forward with this case. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has scheduled a hearing for June 8th to consider our request to suspend the Chevron subpoenas during the pendency of our appeal.

As our defense forges ahead, we thank you once more for your support and ask that you continue to spread the word about our fund. We *must* meet our goal of $20,000 by the end of June in order to receive your generous donations, so we hope you will continue to share this link with friends and family who may want to help. As we've said before, that figure is only a fraction of what we will need in this battle to defend our First Amendment rights, holding fast to our principles--and footage--so we hope you will continue to propel us toward meeting the goal.

Thank you all again.

Stay Tuned...

-Team CRUDE