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The film Sovereign, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.

It's directed by Christian Swagel.

And it's based on a true story that played out in 2010.

Now, remember, this was a time when Americans were still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, and unemployment was high.

Millions of Americans had lost their homes. Hundreds of thousands were dealing with debt and foreclosures and this sense that the system had failed them.

The film stars the actor Nick Offerman as Jerry Kane. Kane was this prominent figure in the sovereign citizens movement. It's built on this mix of misinterpreted legal ideas and constitutional principles that Americans can just opt out of contracts and taxes and court orders if they declare

themselves sovereign.

For believers like Kane, the system itself is illegitimate.

And so personal freedom means defying it.

In May of 2010, Jerry was traveling with his teenage son Joe when a routine traffic stop escalated.

Joe, who was 16 years old, shot and killed two police officers.

Hours later, Joe and Jerry were tracked to a Walmart parking lot where they died in a gunfight.

So Christian Swagel's film is about the consequences of extremism, but he told us he's also interested in those human dynamics, the father and son relationship, mental health, but also empathy for people

who feel powerless and desperate, which you can see in a scene from the film where Jerry

Kane is conducting this seminar. He's teaching people how to reject government authority and

assert their rights as sovereign.

Right before one of Jerry's seminars, he's speaking to people who are in attendance,

and he's kind of like a pastor to be to people before he gives his sermon or something.

I'm Jerry. Nice to be sure.

We got rights that are given to us.

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