The 2023 police raid of the Marion County Record newspaper is the subject of the new documentary “Seized,” premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25.
Overland Park filmmaker Sharon Liese said the story is larger than just the small-town Kansas newspaper.
“So, it really seems like it's a microcosm of what's going on in the country and in the world,” Liese said. “I think things are changing out there in our world in terms of how we relate to the Constitution.”
Multiple lawsuits have accused Marion’s mayor and local police of conducting the raid as retaliation against the newspaper. The documentary shows the tension between a community and its journalists, something Liese said is happening across the country.
The Marion County Record has been operating since 1869. In a county with less than 12,000 people, the paper plays a large role in the community and makes conflict inevitable.
“I don't think there's any question that there was, and probably still is a pretty significant divide,” said “Seized” producer Paul Matyasovsky.
Even for those who acknowledge the raid was illegal, community tension meant there wasn’t much sympathy, Matyasovsky said.
Liese previously won an Emmy for Outstanding Short Documentary, for her 2022 film “The Flagmakers.” Her close proximity to Marion County allowed her to be one of the first on the scene.
Liese said that “Seized” is like a canary in a coal mine.
“Because when I went there, this is what is starting to happen in America. We're starting to see this,” Liese said. “I had no idea that two and a half years later, it was going to be even more important.”
- Sharon Liese, documentary filmmaker, director of “Seized”
- Paul Matyasovsky, producer, “Seized”
