Days after Barack Obama was elected president, activists hatched a plan to overturn California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. They found plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo and enlisted a surprising legal team, David Boies and Ted Olson. Because Boies and Olson were adversaries in the famous Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case that paved the path to the U.S. presidency for George W. Bush, marriage equality supporters were rightfully stunned when the lawyers joined forces to fight Prop 8.

In their alluring new documentary, Ben Cotner and Ryan White (winners of the documentary directing prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival) track the two California couples aiming to overturn Prop 8 so that they can legally marry. The Case Against 8 finds human emotion in behind-closed-doors moments during this personal but public fight for marriage equality. An HBO Documentary Films release.