photo by: Contributed

Shanon Liese, an award-winning director and producer from Kansas. Her new documentary called "Seized" detailing the Marion County Record newspaper raid will be shown during Free State Film Festival on Sunday, June 28.

Sharon Liese knows a thing or two about telling stories as an award-winning director and producer from Kansas. One day as she was listening to NPR in her car, she heard a story that really drew her in.

Bernie Rhodes, the attorney representing the Marion County Record, was describing an “incredible event” of a police raid on August 11, 2023 of the Marion County Record, where law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the paper’s office, the newspaper’s reporters and the publisher’s home. The event, which may have contributed to the death of editor-publisher Eric Meyer’s 98-year old mother, immediately put the small town of around 1,800 people in the national spotlight and sparked a battle over the First and Fourth Amendments.

Liese knew this was “going to be a huge story,” and she wanted to get involved in understanding the drama and controversy in the town that, luckily for her, was just a two-hour drive away.

After filming in Marion, Kansas, for two and a half years, Liese will screen her documentary “Seized,” which details the story of the raid and the aftermath of the small town, at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St., as part of Free State Film Festival on Sunday, June 28 at 2:30 p.m. It is the first time the documentary will be screened in Kansas, and Liese is looking forward to the opportunity to provide a “panoramic” view of the scandal with the documentary and showcase the story beyond the main headlines.

Although the documentary was a departure from some of her previous work — Liese said she tends to focus on stories that are “kind of off the radar” but relate to a broader topic — she immediately reached out to Meyer to get involved.

When she first began working on the documentary, Liese expected it would turn into a straightforward story on the raid. When she and her team began filming, she thought “everyone would be rallying around the newspaper” in town. But she got past the headlines, Liese said she found “long held tensions” between the community and the paper that immediately caught her eye.

photo by: John Hanna/AP

A stack of the latest weekly edition of the Marion County Record sits in the back of the newspaper’s building, awaiting unbundling, sorting and distribution, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, in Marion, Kansas.

“I wanted to dive into that,” Liese said.

The animosity between the paper and the public surprised her, and she wanted to get to the bottom of how those tensions began. While there was a lot of important focus on the raid itself and the Constitutional questions that ensued in the fallout, she thought this was a way to portray a broader story of local journalism and “what it was up against” in its relationship with the community.

“We felt it was important, and it became fertile ground to have conversations about what local journalism means to people and this country,” Liese said.

Because Liese and her team were around the town for two and a half years, they were able to get more understanding of the local tensions. In the first year, Liese said she would hear residents in passing tell her “you don’t know the whole story.” Liese wanted those people to say more, but they did not right away. Eventually, people began to trust them, and believed their voice would be included in the story. Having those perspectives helps give a more “panoramic” view of what is going on in the town as opposed to people who would “parachute” in for a few weeks, according to Liese.

“You hear from people what their beef is with the paper,” Liese said. “People can judge for themselves whether what they are complaining about is legit or warranted. It’s definitely worth a conversation.”

One thing that Liese has heard about the documentary so far was that “it moves along well” and has the elements to maybe be a scripted film one day. As Liese put it, it’s not an “eat-your-broccoli-and-learn-about-the-Constitution” type documentary, but it has serious issues and themes mixed in with very complex and complicated characters and humor.

Much of the humor comes about through some of the “absurdity” in telling the story that features “small town antics” and passionate voices, according to Liese. In making the project, Liese said the crew hoped to “lean into some of (that) absurdity” that they came across, and so far it has translated with audiences.

“There are people at the paper and in the community who have a lot to say,” Liese said. “And they say things that will make you laugh — not laugh at them, but with them.”

photo by: Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector

Reporters interview Eric Meyer outside of the Marion County Record office in Marion, Kansas, the site of a 2023 police raid, after an Oct. 7, 2024, court hearing for Gideon Cody, the former Marion police chief who led the raid. Meyer and others reached agreements with the county Monday for its role in the raids.

The film has been screened at a variety of festivals, including the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, but Liese is looking forward to the event on Sunday and is hopeful for a “very lively Q&A session” afterwards. Liese will be joined by producer Paul Matyasovsky, Kansas Public Radio’s Kaye McIntyre and figures from the Marion County Record like Meyer, former reporter Phyllis Zorn and the attorney Rhodes.

Because this is the first screening in Kansas, Liese hopes that it will mean a lot since more of the people would “have a stake” in the events. She is excited to share this story that is two and a half years in the making.

“I hope people find it informative and very entertaining,” Liese said.

The screening will take place at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St., at 2:30 p.m. If you are interested in purchasing tickets, you can go to the Free State Film Festival’s website for more information.