Meet the People Spending Their Lives Trying to Save TV Shows

United We Fan, a new documentary by Michael Sparaga, chronicles the history and evolution of passion-filled grassroots, save-our-show TV fan campaigns, including one spearheaded by Kaily Russell, a young woman who fights for the show Person of Interest.

Russell, who grew up poor, bullied, and gay in a small Northern California town, initially got into POI because of its positive depiction of the lesbian relationship between the characters Root and Shaw. As she started to watch the show, she also found strength in its message of never giving up the fight. When Root was killed during the final season, it was another example of the Dead Lesbian Trope, which sees lesbians killed off of shows in alarming numbers.

United We Fan makes its world premiere the April 28 at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. For tickets and further show times, visit here.