State of Necessity
Autumn 2019. A group of activists dressed as clowns play a game of tennis inside a Credit Suisse branch in Lausanne. Their aim is to call on Roger Federer, of whom the bank is one of the main sponsors, to make him aware of the toxic investments of the Swiss financial center. This action created a worldwide buzz when, a few months later, a Vaudois judge acquitted the activists, justifying their action in the name of imminent climate danger. But this was only the first step on a long legal road that would take the young activists all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.
This film goes behind the scenes of a few episodes of climate justice.
An intimate, powerful, sometimes funny and moving journey that accompanies the protagonists through the lawyers’ offices and the lost steps of the courts. A journey strewn with countless pitfalls, tensions, hopes, bitter disappointments and fleeting triumphs.

Credits
Directed by : Stéphane Goël
original idea by : Emmanuel Gétaz
Image : Nicolas Veuthey
Additional images : Camille Cottagnoud, Mathias Wälti, Athénaïs Python, Pauline Rumpf / 20 minutes, Alexandre Salama, Stéphane Goël
Sound : Masaki Hatsui, Björn Cornelius, Thibauld Weiler
Editing : Karine Sudan
Editing assistant : Antoine Flahaut
Music : Jean Rochat
Sound mix : Jérôme Cuendet
Color grading : Robin Erard
Production : Daniel Wyss
Coproduction : RTS, Steven Artels, Bettina Hofmann
Financial support : Office fédéral de la culture (DFI) | Cinéforom et Loterie Romande | Fonds de production télévisuelle | Succès Cinéma | Succès Passage Antenne
0000-0005-FC32-0000-V-0000-0000-I
© 2022 CLIMAGE – RTS
Trailer
Festivals
Festival du Film Vert, Genève, “Jouvence” prize | Festival de Douarnenez | Journées de Soleure | Festival international du film alpin des Diablerets | Chiayi International Art Documentary Film Festival | Regards en transition, Aubonne | Cinema Svizzero a Venezia | Bergwelten Film Festival, Stans | Fünf Seen Filmfestival, Munich | Festival Terre&Avenir, Lausanne | Festi’Vaches, St Martin en Haut | Quai des images, Loudéac | Cinéma Différent | Festival Résistances, Foix, etc…
Watch the film (VOD)
In Switzerland : Play Suisse
International : TV5 Monde Plus
Show the film
(public screenings / festivals)
In Switzerland : climage@climage.ch
World sales : climage@climage.ch