The short film “lien” carries the horror of deporting to the red carpet Oscar | Entertainment in the United States
The couple and their little daughter go to the appointment of immigration and civil service of the United States. She, American and he, Central American. They have been couple for several years and the audience should serve for it, as the law permits, obtaining the required green card, a permanent residential card. What should be nothing but a routine procedure becomes a nightmare when ice agents (customs immigration and control services of arrest and deport. It is not strange in times that run to the right and ominous against non -documentary migrants.
This time, however, protagonists, Sophie and Oscar, are two actors who reproduce the drama that thousands of pairs of mixed immigration status live, which are threatened by the possible exclusion of one of the spouses. Reality and fiction are mixed in a short film Lienwhich was nominated and competition for the category of short film Best Fiction. Directed by the brothers Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz in New Jersey, the film reaches in 15 minutes to show the anxiety and impotence of people who see their lives unexpectedly pulling into the complex mechanisms of a broken immigration system.
The short film premiered in 2023, although the five weeks of Trump’s government returned it to the present. In an interview with El País Sam Cutler-Kreutz explains where the idea of it appeared: “I read an article in The New York Times In 2018, we were very surprised by the cruelty and injustice. I felt that we had to do something to defend it, showed the fact that they were trying to do the right thing, go through the legal process and eventually be persecuted. ”
The voltage does not stop in a quarter of an hour when the recording lasts and used horror films to restore the anxiety of the protagonists. With the nervousness that this is such an important appointment, the couple separates, and while Sophie remains restless in the waiting room, an Oscar, accompanied by her daughter Nina, he asks the agent. From there, communication between the couple is limited to text messages and a video of a mobile phone that develops on a panic caused by the future of reality. “It’s a kind of horror movie about documents,” says Cutler-Kreutz. “The phone becomes an uncontrollable camera because the Oscar can control what Sophie sees, but is limited. The viewer is limited, creating a scary environment,” he explains.
Budget Lien It was minimal and most participants worked without collecting. To choose leading actors, the Cutler-Kreutz brothers were looking for about 6,000 candidates. Victoria Ratermanis plays Sophie, William Martinez on Oscar and Koralyn Rivera, their daughter.
Due to the lack of the budget, it took only four days to shoot and was carried out in facilities that could imitate one of the USCIS offices (immigration and civic service of the United States), but without entering one of them. The scenario was the result of an interview with several disabled and lawyers of migrants who said the experience of people who believe they would receive a document that would allow them to stay legally, and the appointment becomes a trap to stop and exclude them from the country.
Cutler-Kreutz emphasizes that although officials appear without showing empathy for the family, they did not want to demonize ice agents. “There are no villains in this scenario. If everyone in the system thinks that they are doing their work correctly, there is a problem in the system, not in people. This is what the film refers to. In the system, there may be good people who have problems and must be reformed,” he says.
Lien She went through several festivals and gained good acceptance of critics and public, but the nominations of Oscar were a surprise. “It’s crazy, unbelievable. Frankly, I never expected this movie to get so far. In a way, we expected to lose its meaning,” he recognizes. Expectations that are far from being used as soon as the Donald Trump Administration is completely used to increase the number of deported, without discriminating among those who are criminals and those who do not do so.
Cutler-Kreutz hopes that the film will serve to “see immigration in a more humanistic way and try to understand that people’s lives are at stake, are at stake the lives of their families, and that most people who are immigrants are doing everything in this country.
After LienCutler-Kreutz brothers made another short movie, Imprisonedwhich is presented at several festivals and its other project is to debut with a feature film. But at the moment they will be used to succeed Lien. “It is very exciting that we can take the team to the Oscars and return a small part of all passions, hard work and talents they put in the film. I am excited to walk with them on the red carpet,” he admits.
