The hidden past of the gun debate in the U.S., and the outsized political and cultural influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA), are continuously dividing the nation. However, little reform has been made in to not only protect and save lives, but also bring the country back together. The new documentary, ‘The Price of Freedom,’ is looking to change the course of America’s future, as opponents and supporters of the Second Amendment continue to battle over how people’s right to bear arms is affecting the entire country.
The film was directed and produced by Judd Ehrlich. ‘The Price of Freedom’ features President Bill Clinton; activist and Parkland survivor, X González; Senator Chris Murphy; Representatives Jason Crow and Lucy McBath; NRA Board Member and former NRA President, David Keene; activist Fred Guttenberg; co-founder and director of Sandy Hook Promise, Nicole Hockley; founder and director of Guns Down America, Igor Volsky; and contributing editor at Outside Magazine, Wes Siler.
‘The Price of Freedom’ had its World Premiere in the Spotlight Documentary section at last month’s Tribeca Film Festival. Abramorama is releasing the movie today in theaters.
‘The Price of Freedom’ is an unflinching look at the gun violence epidemic in America and the role the NRA, with its outsized political and cultural influence, has played over time. The NRA believes the deaths of innocent Americans are a necessary price to pay for the freedom to own firearms without restrictions. By manipulating the narrative around guns and backing politicians who commit to upholding their agenda, the NRA has cost America far more than anyone has realize. Featuring passionate pleas from activists on both sides of the issue, the documentary presents a compelling case for those brave enough to take a stand against the NRA in defense of America’s communities and collective future.
Ehrlich generously took the time during the Tribeca Film Festival last month to talk about directing ‘The Price of Freedom’ during an exclusive interview over Zoom. Among other things, the filmmaker discussed that he wanted to make the documentary in part because the death rate linked to guns is so prevalent in America that he feels that everyone needs to understand the reasoning behind gun violence, as well as both sides of the debate over gun rights. The New York-based helmer also shared that he’s thrilled that the movie had its World Premere in person with other filmmakers at the Tribeca Film Festival, in part because the feature was co-produced by Tribeca Studios.
The conversation began with Ehrlich explaining what inspired him to make ‘The Price of Freedom,’ and how he approached his overall directorial duties during the production. “It really started from a question of how we got to a moment in America where gun deaths and violence is so pervasive. There’s also so much fervor on the gun rights side, and there are so many guns in this country, but so few regulations,” he pointed out.
“When you compare America to other industrialized nations, it’s really staggering to see the amount of gun violence, and the lack of regulations,” the filmmaker continued. “So the film started from the question of how we got here, and that moved fairly quickly to the National Rifle Association and their role in this. Everywhere I turned, all roads led to the National Rifle Association.”
Once Ehrlich began production on the documentary, he began doing research into the NRA, as well as the overall problem of gun violence in America. “It was an exhaustive process, and I had an incredibly talented team of researchers, producers and editors help make this film what it is. We really wanted to tell a story that a lot of Americans, and people around the world, don’t know,” he shared.
“We hear about the gun debate in America, and people think it was always this way. In many ways, they have bought the myth that the NRA is so effective in perpetrating, which is that this country was founded in gun rights and no restrictions on gun, but that’s just not the case,” the helmer shared.
“This country does have a history of firearms being important, but it also has a history of gun laws and regulations being important. That’s an important piece that the NRA has been able to gloss over in the history of this nation,” Ehrlich pointed out. “They’ve been so effective in equating guns with personal freedom, liberty and ideals that are very important to all political stripes.
“They’ve also been able to link guns in a way that gives guns such a powerful, motivating factor for a very small portion of the American public, which has been very vocal and out in front. They’ve changed the way laws are written and who our elected officials are, and all of that really happened in the 1960s and ’70s,” the filmmaker also noted.
“Not a lot of people know that, or that for a century, the NRA had primarily been focused on hunting and marksmanship. Things then really changed in the NRA after the Cincinnati Revolt in 1977, and they became an organization that centers on lobbying political influence, and supports a radical interpretation of the second amendment,” Ehrlich added.
With ‘The Price of Freedom’ featuring people from both views of gun control, the director then delved into what the process of deciding who to include in the feature was like during the production. “Deciding who to include in a film like this one was something we gave a lot of thought to, as we wanted a cross section of people from both sides. So we have politicians, survivors, activists, hunters and a representation from the NRA,” he noted.
“We felt it was important for the NRA to give their side, and for audiences to hear their defense of their vision of this country. I feel their vision for America is that everyone is safer if everyone is armed,” Ehrlich divulged. “I think we gave them space to give that defense, and I think Americans need to decide if that’s a nation they want to live, and raise their children, in.”
Ehrlich then delved into what his experience of working with the movie’s director of photography, Peter Eliot Buntaine, to determine how to visually film the feature. “This project is unique because it was made during the pandemic, with the exception of the interview with President Clinton, which I attended in person. I was doing the interviews remotely over Zoom, and we had very small crews locally on the ground across the country. We sometimes did three or four in a week,” the helmer revealed. “The upside to that was that we didn’t have to have our crew travel to all of these places, so that allowed us to do a lot more shoots.
“But there was a lot of pre-production in advance of shooting with the DP, which included looking for inspiration in how we wanted to shoot the interviews. During that process, we set up lookbooks for the local crews,” Ehrlich continued. “I would then start very early in the morning with the crews and the DP over Zoom, and set the look for each shot, so that we could maintain some consistency across the interviews.
“What I was particularly fearful of was not being in the room, and doing the interviews remotely, which I thought might impact the power of the interviews,” the filmmaker admitted. “But to my delight, people were so used to communicating via Zoom at that point that we were able to get some wonderful materials from those interviews. I think this film shines through the people who were willing to give their time to share their expertise, as well as through the archival footage.”
Further speaking of the archival footage, Ehrlich shared what the process of deciding what clips and photos to include in ‘The Price of Freedom’ was like during the production. “Such a big part of a film like this was having our incredible archival producer (Frauke Levin). For me, archival footage is so important because I make a lot of films that are vérité documentaries, and not archival and interview-based,” he noted.
“So for this film, it was about treating the archival footage the same way that we would treat a scene in a vérité documentary, and really mining that material for moments people haven’t seen before,” the director continued. “It was also about trying to turn over every rock to find these gems.”
Once he finished collecting the archival footage and recording the interviews, Ehrlich embraced the process of working with the documentary’s editors, Leah Goudsmit, Max Powers and Albin Pepe, while putting the final version of the feature together. “We made this film in 10 months, which is relatively short for a documentary. We were shooting and editing simultaneously, as we had media drives shipped to us immediately after they were shot. We would transcribe it and get it to our editing team, so that they could start the editing process,” the helmer shared.
“Of course, as you can image, when we got a new interview in, or an incredible piece of archival footage, it changed our perception of what the film could be, and that was one of the most exciting things to me about making a documentary. That’s especially true when you’re making a vérité film, because you don’t know how it’s going to end,” Ehrlich pointed out.
“When you’re making a talking head documentary with archival footage, you have a little bit more of a perception of where the story’s going, but there are still so many surprises that come along with it. You don’t know who’s going to light up in an interview, what fact will emerge and what archival footage you’re going to uncover, and how that’s going to affect the film. It’s a constantly evolving process,” the filmmaker added.
“I come from an documentary editing background…and we had a talented team of editors on this film, which was really helpful in putting together the final version of this movie,” Ehrlich also gushed about the movie’s editing team.
After ‘The Price of Freedom’ was completely edited, the director submitted the feature to the Tribeca Film Festival, and the project ultimately had its World Premiere in the festival’s Spotlight Documentary section. Ehrlich expressed his excitement of having the movie premiere at the festival.
“Tribeca has a very special place in my heart. I grew up in lower Manhattan, and my parents still live there, and I’ve lived in New York all of my life,” the helmer shared. “I’ve had five films at Tribeca, and this movie was co-produced by Tribeca Studios, which is their production arm. This is the third film we’ve done with Tribeca Studios.
“So the support from Tribeca Studios and the Tribeca Film Festival, and the love from New York City for a film like this, is amazing. I’m so excited that this movie is premiering at Tribeca in person,” the filmmaker added. “Just to be able to see people face-to-face, and talk to other filmmakers and see their films, is amazing…For Tribeca to be out in front” as the first film festival to be held in person after the start of the pandemic “is a thrill, and I’m so excited for it,” he concluded.