Filmmaker Statement

The Tree Sitters follows a group of activists in Humboldt County, California who live 100 feet in the air on the branches of Redwood trees. For over 2 years, Redwood Forest Defense have slept, cooked, peed, loved, and fought in the trees, protecting them from commercial logging. This short documentary observes the sitters’ way of life in the canopy, their live conflict with loggers, and presents their view of the world, at fantastic odds with our current economic and societal models. But in a world on fire and under water, they argue, such models much change. The forest defenders show us the gravity of our situation with their bodies, with their actions. The tree sitters demonstrate a truth – inconvenient, urgent, and familiar – that we cannot continue on as we have.