Private Project

Public Trust

Public Trust (formerly This Land)
In a time of growing income inequality in America, there is one asset that remains in the hands of the American people: the 640 million acres of America’s Public Lands.

Given its status as the last large-scale public asset on the planet, powerful forces have aligned to attempt the largest land grab in modern history, rob Americans of this unique birthright, and make modern day vassals of the American people

  • David Garrett Byars
    Director
    Byars made his directorial debut at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival with NO MAN’S LAND (Tribeca 2017, Independent Lens), a documentary about the 2016 militia occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that sparked international headlines. Byars also produced and lensed MASSACRE RIVER (Hot Docs 2019, ITVS) Suzan Beraza’s film about statelessness in the Dominican Republic.
  • Jeremy Rubingh
    Producer
    Jeremy has worked for the last decade at the nexus of politics and conservation in the West for foundations and strategic think-tanks where he developed messaging, media strategy, diverse voice engagement and innovative tactics on a variety of public land and clean energy issues. His most recent work in film was as an executive producer with the Story Group on the short film UNACCEPTABLE RISK: FIREFIGHTERS ON THE FRONTLINES OF CLIMATE CHANGE, and as director and producer on several other projects, including an award-winning short film, RED LADY: THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MOUNTAINS focused on 1872 mining reform in a small Colorado community.
  • Hal Herring
    Key Cast
  • Angelo Baca
    Key Cast
  • Terry Tempest Williams
    Key Cast
  • Bernadette Dimientieff
    Key Cast
  • Joel Clement
    Key Cast
  • Spencer Shaver
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 36 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    700,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Arri Amira, Alexa Mini
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - David Garrett Byars

Byars made his directorial debut at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival with NO MAN’S LAND (Tribeca 2017, Independent Lens), a documentary about the 2016 militia occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that sparked international headlines. Byars also produced and lensed MASSACRE RIVER (Hot Docs 2019, ITVS) Suzan Beraza’s film about statelessness in the Dominican Republic.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I grew up in Georgia, where hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreating generally occurred on private land and only at the discretion of those who owned that land. Thus, when I moved to Colorado in the winter of 2008, I had no inkling of the existence of public land. Through spending time outdoors with friends and mentors, I learned that much of the land in the West is federally managed, and thus open to me to camp, to hunt, to gather wood, recreate, etc. As someone who was accustomed to either sneaking onto private property to fish or swim or being corralled into tawdry and generally less than awe-inspiring “natural wonders” of the road-side attraction South, I was fairly gobsmacked.

I began working on documentaries ten years ago under the tutelage of Suzan Beraza and in 2014, at the urging of Suzan, I began making what would become No Man’s Land (Tribeca Film Festival 2017, Independent Lens). No Man’s Land ultimately focused on the story of the Bundy’s armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, but it was during my immersion in this topic that I learned that this microcosm of anti-federal fury was backed by a larger, even more sinister movement to rob Americans of their public lands to benefit those who are already unfathomably wealthy.

During this process, I also had it pounded into me that the land in question actually belongs to me, as an American citizen. I still struggle for this concept to fully land in my consciousness, and I imagine that the majority of Americans don’t feel intrinsic ownership of 640 million acres of public land. But when I contemplate the unfathomable scale of these 640 million acres, I feel intense pride. And, in a time of accelerating wealth inequality and an in which me and many of my generation will probably never own any land, I feel fury at those who would rob me and my fellow Americans of what belongs to all of us.

That said, the story of public land is not my story - it is all of our stories. It is my hope that my journey from ignorance of understanding will serve the film in effectively communicating the concept of public lands and the threats they face. Through the time we have spent on this topic, we have cultivated relationships with those who have a direct connection to the land, and thus we humbly offer our skills as narrative conduits for their stories and hope to couch their perspectives in historical and political context.