Dennis is joined via Zoom from Boston, MA by writer-director Spencer Cohen to talk about his film The Compatriots, which is about young undocumented gay man from Peru named Javi and his quest to be who he is. Spencer talks about how he based the story on his real life best friend since middle school Beto, who is a gay, Peruvian and undocumented Dreamer, just like Javi in the film. Spencer recalls not knowing Beto's immigration status until several years into their friendship and how that knowledge explained so much about Beto's behavior and the things he was not able to do. He also talks movingly about suffering a personal loss during the shooting of the film and how he was able to get through it. Other topics include: the film's timeliness in the era of Trump 2.0, having an I.C.E. raid in the film but not knowing to put the agents in masks, having people at film festivals share their own immigration stories and how his friend Beto is doing now.

https://www.thecompatriotsfilm.com/