The Infiltrators (Doc 10: Chicago's Documentary Movie Festival)

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Directors: Cristina Ibarra, Alex Rivera U.S., 95 min, 2019 With ripped-from-the-headlines relevance, though set during the Obama years, The Infiltrators chronicles the riveting, unbelievably true story of a group of activist Dreamers who slipped undercover into ICE detention centers to stop those inside from being deported. With a “formally daring” (Indiewire) mix of fiction and documentary, filmmakers Ibarra and Rivera track young Marco Saavedra as he gets himself arrested in order to save a Mexican father from getting thrown out of the country. Once inside the facility, Saavedra, along with another covert counterpart, Viridiana Martinez, expand their mission to give aid to a wide range of multinational immigrants—until ICE officials stumble onto their schemes. “Like watching a classic prison film” (The Boston Globe), The Infiltrators is a “thrill…. In gripping fashion, Ibarra and Rivera maintain an effortless balance between genre-rooted entertainment and concern for real human suffering” (The Hollywood Reporter). Winner of the Audience Award and Innovator Award, 2019 Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section.