This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff speak with Daniel Sawka, director of the timely social drama Icebox. The film, which premieres at TIFF 2018, tells the story of a 12 year old Honduran boy, interned at a US immigration detention centre, and has gained added resonance in the wake the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. The group also welcome Karine Jean-Pierre, advisor and national spokesperson for ‘MoveOn’. The progressive policy advocacy group recently helped to organize #FamiliesBelongTogether, a day of coordinated protest against family separation and family detention.

 

The four discuss the making of Icebox, how film can be used to increase awareness of a social issues, and why Sawka chose to highlight this issue through a narrative film, rather than a documentary.

 

They also talk about the casting of the film’s remarkable young lead, Anthony Gonzalez, how issues of immigration of migration in the United States have become exacerbated under Trump’s policies, and the influence of the film’s producer, the legendary James L. Brooks.