BANISHMENT
(Working Title)
DIRECTOR: ALEX RIVERA
Deportations happen every hour of every day in the United States, but “deportation” appears nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. This is the incredible true story of where deportation came from, how it almost never began, and a roadmap towards, perhaps, ending the practice forever.
PITCH + TEASER
ONLINE VOTING: FRIDAY, APRIL 11 • 10AM PT – FRIDAY, APRIL 25 • 11:59PM
SYNOPSIS
‘Banishment’ is a scripted/documentary hybrid about the origins of deportation. The main storyline follows Fong Yue Ting, an immigrant from China, as he and his allies argue at the Supreme Court in 1893 that deportation – fundamentally – is unconstitutional.
Our characters (based on the historical record, portrayed by actors) are trying to stop deportation before it gets started. As they build their case, the ‘hybridity’ of our film will come to life as we ‘flash-forward’ to stories from our present-day reality, presented in documentary vignettes. These vignettes will examine how the fears of Fong Yue Ting have been born out. The point of view stays with our rebel immigrants in the late 1800s. Today’s reality is presented as a kind of dream/nightmare.
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT
I’m a filmmaker and digital media artist with a life-long commitment to telling stories of the borderlands. The ‘borderlands’ to me is a physical place, a mental experience, and a set of political/artistic possibilities. Despite my singular commitment to this issue-area, my work morphs over time, from documentary to music video, from science-fiction to ‘hybrid forms.’
‘Banishment’ will both continue and expand my creative practice as it will be the first time I directly and deeply engage with history. I’m very excited by the challenge of this piece, and the chance to use the formal learnings from ‘The Infiltrators’ to produce a new and risky language to connect past and present.
Success to me is far out in futureworld where there’s a rich and deep and constant cinematic culture that chronicles many aspects of the Latinx experience and imagination. Despite the fact that our community is nearly 20% of the U.S. population, the amount of film and television produced by us is miserably small. And if we look not only at the work produced by us, but instead look at the subset of that work that is both by us, and deeply about us – about our history, about our social circumstances, about our political and social dreams – there is nearly nothing. Success for me is being part of creating that audio-visual culture that we need: socially grounded, cinematically elevated.
Even though I’m in a good place in many ways (I was stunned to receive a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship), I’m also facing many familiar challenges. I’m writing this grant at my kitchen table but dreaming of growing a real production company that could sustain and accelerate my work and the work of other filmmakers like me.
PROJECT INFO.
| LENGTH (MINUTES): | 90 |
| LANGUAGE: | English |
| START OF PRODUCTION: | 2025 |
| EXPECTED DELIVERY: | 2027 |
| SHOOTING FORMAT: | 16:9 |
| SHOOTING LOCATIONS: | California, USA |
| TOTAL BUDGET: | $1,086,000. |
| PRODUCTION COMPANY: | Aztlan Pixel Inc |
| PRODUCTION COUNTRY: | United States |
| CONFIRMED PARTNERS: | TBA |
| BUDGET GAP: | $800,00. |
| CURRENT PROJECT STATUS: | In Production |
PITCH TEAM
ALEX RIVERA
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
ALEX RIVERA is an award-winning filmmaker whose work explores themes of globalization, migration, and technology. Rivera’s first feature film, Sleep Dealer, a cyberpunk thriller set on the U.S./Mexico border, won awards at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, was screened at the Museum of Modern Art, and had a commercial theatrical release in the U.S, France, Japan, and other countries. In The New York Times A.O. Scott described Rivera as “a brilliant young director” and Variety named him one of “Ten Directors to Watch.”
Rivera’s second feature, The Infiltrators, won the NEXT: Audience Award and the Innovator Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The Infiltrators uses documentary and scripted forms to tell the true story of Dreamers who ‘infiltrate’ a detention center to get immigrants out. The Hollywood Reporter raved “watching it is a thrill” and The New Yorker Radio Hour called the film “extraordinary and important.” The Infiltrators is currently being developed by Blumhouse Television as a scripted series.
Alex Rivera is a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, Sundance Fellow, Creative Capital Grantee and was The Rothschild Lecturer at Harvard University. He studied at Hampshire College, lives in Los Angeles, and is an Associate Professor of Filmmaking Practice at ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School.
JOEBILL MUÑOZ
PRODUCER
JOEBILL MUÑOZ is a documentary filmmaker and director and producer of The Strike (Hot Docs 2024). He has directed short films for Independent Lens (Maletero and Evidence Lost) and NBC (Follow the Sun), and produced feature films and television series, including The Grab (Hulu), The Circus (Showtime), The New York Times Presents (Hulu) and Celtics City (HBO).
His work has been supported through fellowships from the Sundance Institute, New America, Firelight Media, and Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. JoeBill was recently named to DOC NYC’s 40 under 40 list of emerging filmmakers. Originally from Texas, he resides in New York City.
