Battleground PDX Documentary -- The

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Battleground PDX Documentary

Portland has become the center of a political battleground. This documentary talks to protestors – veterans, moms, active military commanders – and shows a different version of Portland through the eyes of its citizens.

It can be found at Holcombville Entertainment on Youtube, premiering at 5pm EST, Oct 25, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOE5eoSbiLE

"You know, if he (Donald Trump) wins in November, this documentary is going to get us all in the Gulag, right?" Kevin Pannell, Purple-Heart Veteran and double amputee, says as he sits on a picnic table just outside of the city limits of Portland on a sunny afternoon in late August, just after the federal troops tried, but failed, to squash the Black Lives Matter protests in the city.

Set in Portland, a city with a historical voice of protest, Battleground PDX shows, through interviews, video footage, and testimonials, the use of force against the citizens of Portland in its streets.

"I got a call from my good friend, Keven Pannell…He called me up that night (after Trump used tear gas at Lafayette Square to remove protestors for a photo opportunity), and he said, 'this is not the America I bled for. This is not the United States I sacrificed for. Sean, we need to do something.' He wanted to chain himself to the White House fence until he had an audience," Sean Davis, Purple-Heart Veteran and co-producer, says of his friend, Pannell, explaining the catalyst for the documentary.

With a small crew, Sean Davis with Jessi Marsh (Director) and Kase Johnstun (co-producer), along with Trevor Baierl (co-producer) from afar, weaved their way through Portland during the months of August and September, speaking to veterans, city commissioners, mayoral candidates, moms, and current military personnel to uncover what truly happened when federal troops landed in downtown Portland during those days of civil unrest.

The film reveals what most have not seen through main-stream media. With video footage of the protests from the protesters themselves, Battleground PDX illustrates what happened on the streets of Portland after the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Joann Hardesty, Portland City Commissioner and Navy veteran notes, "I have lived here for over 30 years. I have participated in hundreds of protests. I have even organized protests. Never once have I seen a community have to put bike helmets on, gas masks, protective gear, to exercise your free-speech rights. So I am so proud of Portland, let me say, because after that first night – and it was just a couple hundred of people – the protest was starting to die down after having tens of thousands of people in the street every night. It was just starting to die down. After that first night (when the federal troops were sent in), there's twice as many people."

The streets had begun to clear before the federal troops arrived. More and more people came out to protect the Black Lives Matter – mom's groups, groups of veterans, parents.

Battleground PDX spoke with multiple different protestors who were shot, tear gassed, and beaten.

"I see real munitions being fired at everyday people," Eric Greatwood, protestor who spent 60 days in a row at the protests, says.

Interviews included citizens from all walks of life, from Combat Veteran and Vietnam medic Mike Hastie who was sprayed directly in the face with tear gas when he confronted them with, "This is why this Vietnam Veteran, combat medic who took injured and dead soldiers off of helicopters. This is why I did what I did," to wall of moms activist Ellen Urbani, "They saw that I had a broken foot, so they shot my other foot. They were standing right in front of me, so they shot my other foot. I think it's broken."

Co-producer Sean Davis says it very directly, "These people did not do anything to justify this response." He references his time overseas and in the middle east as a combat veteran to define what the federal troops did and how it was illegal, "Watching them use gas and flash bangs on protestors and throwing them down and using batons on them. If I were to have acted in that way when I was in war, I would have been brought up on war crimes, but they are doing it on national television to US citizens."

"I think 45's intent was to intimidate, was to silence protestors, right?" City Commissioner Hardesty says.

While delving into all of this, the documentary team found something even more frightening. You'll have to watch the documentary to find out what.

Contact Info:

Sean Davis (Lead Contact)
[email protected]
503-679-3885
Purple-Heart Veteran
Author, The Wax Bullet War
Winner of the 2015 Legionaire of the Year Award from the American Legion, & recipient of the 2016 Emily Gottfried Emerging Leader, Human Rights award.

Trevor Baierl
818-903-7278
[email protected]
Two-time Emmy Nominated Producer and Director

Jessi Marsh
[email protected]
310-500-9645
Producer and Director

Kase Johnstun
[email protected]
801-390-3997
Author: Beyond the Grip of Craniosynostosis (McFarland & Co, 2015), Winner of the 2015 Gold Quill, League of Utah Writers
Co-author/editor: Utah Reflections: Stories from the Wasatch Front (History Press, 2014)

SOURCE Battleground PDX Documentary