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A timely and urgent new documentary, The Line We Crossed (15), is showing at the Electric Picture House Cinema in Wotton-under-Edge on Thursday 17 July 2025 at 7.30pm. Directed by Liz Smith, the film lays bare the alarming clampdown on protest rights in the UK through the eyes of climate activists at a time of accelerating ecological crisis.
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The Line We Crossed offers intimate access to the lives and experiences of those on the frontlines of environmental protest, including Marcus Decker, who received a 2 year 7 month sentence for climbing the QEII Bridge to raise awareness of the climate emergency, and Trudi Warner, arrested for standing silently outside a UK court holding a sign affirming the independence of juries.
At the heart of the documentary is a chilling portrait of a legal and political environment increasingly hostile to nonviolent dissent. During filming, sweeping new anti-protest laws were enacted, giving police broad powers to arrest citizens for minor disruption and enabling courts to deny activists the right to explain their motivations, imposing disproportionately harsh sentences.
“During the making of this film I witnessed first-hand the extent to which environmental defenders are being silenced and criminalised in the UK for nonviolent protest,” said Liz Smith, director of the film. “The right to nonviolent protest is a fundamental plank of a well-functioning democracy, and to put it bluntly, from what I have witnessed, we have now lost that right in the UK. This is something that everyone in the UK should be worried about.”
The film features a powerful interview with Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention, who warns:
“The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights clearly says that the right to protest covers civil disobedience, and the fact that [activists] are prevented in the UK to do so is a matter of great concern for me.”
The Line We Crossed is directed by Liz Smith, whose previous films include the award-winning I Am Gen Z and The Conspiracists. The film is executive produced by Brian Selman and Good Law Project, with associate producer Serena Schellenberg, and producers Liz Smith and Chantelle de Carvalho.
Tickets for The Line We Crossed (15) can be booked at www.wottoncinema.com.