Co-production from NBC News Studios, Participant, Fourth Floor and Moxie Pictures
Acclaimed Film About Immigration Policy Will Have Theatrical Run at IFC Center Starting October 4, Premieres on MSNBC December 7, Theatrical Release from
Submarine Deluxe and Home Entertainment from Greenwich
(September. 30, 2024 – NEW YORK) – MSNBC Films today announced the acquisition of SEPARATED, Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris’ probe of family separation and immigration policies. Based on NBC News Political and National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff’s book, Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, Morris merges interviews with government officials and narrative vignettes tracing one migrant family’s plight. Against this backdrop, audiences can begin to absorb the U.S. government’s role in developing and implementing policies that have kept over 1300 children without confirmed reunifications years later, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
One of the central participants in the story is Commander Jonathan White, the former Deputy Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) for the Unaccompanied Alien Children’s (UAC) Program, with whom Morris conducted two extensive interviews resulting in almost five hours of crucial material and details. “White is an extraordinary civil servant who took his job seriously as a protector of children,” said Morris.
Following the film’s recent well-reviewed World and US premieres at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, SEPARATED will have a week-long run at IFC Center in New York starting October 4 and a broadcast premiere on MSNBC December 7. Submarine Deluxe has come onboard to handle theatrical release with Greenwich Entertainment joining to handle home entertainment.
SEPARATED is a co-production from NBC News Studios, Participant, Fourth Floor and Moxie Pictures.
“It’s an attempt to tell a story that we should all relate to emotionally. It’s not just a story about political malfeasance or about bureaucracy, but about people,” Morris explained. “People like you and me. It’s not about other people. It’s about people.”
MSNBC Films: MSNBC Films, a division of MSNBC, produces and acquires documentary features and short films for distribution across the NBCUniversal News Group platforms. MSNBC Films collaborates with top filmmakers to deliver a variety of thought-provoking films that reveal the humanity beyond the headlines, combining the extraordinary journalism of NBCUniversal News Group. For more information, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/films.
NBC News Studios:
NBC News Studios is a documentary production company inside NBC News. It partners with premier filmmakers and leverages the assets of its esteemed news organization to bring stories to the screen, including eight decades of television and radio archive, a global network of journalists, a world-class investigative team, and a rich trove of editorial IP. The team has decades of experience in documentary film and television and has been honored with multiple Emmy, Peabody and DuPont awards. Recent work includes Separated (Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival) directed by Errol Morris, Every Body (Tribeca Film Festival/Focus Features) directed by Julie Cohen, Leguizamo Does America (MSNBC), The Disappearance of Shere Hite (Sundance/IFC Films) directed by Nicole Newnham and co-produced with This Machine; Diamond Hands: The Legend of Wall Street Bets (SXSW/MSNBC) from Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari; the scripted mini-series The Thing About Pam (NBC) starring Renée Zellweger and produced with Blumhouse Productions and Big Picture Co. Upcoming projects include collaborations with directors Errol Morris and Dawn Porter. NBC News Studios co-sponsors Original Voices, an artist development and inclusion initiative for independent documentary filmmakers, in partnership with NBCU Academy. Recent Original Voices grantees include Sundance prize-winning Bad Press, Independent Spirit Award Truer Than Fiction winner Unseen, and Union, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in U.S Documentary Competition.
Participant:
Founded in 2004 by Chairman Jeff Skoll, Participant’s films earned 86 Academy Award® nominations and 21 wins, including Best Picture for Green Book and Spotlight; Best Documentary Feature for American Factory, CITIZENFOUR, The Cove, and An Inconvenient Truth; and Best Foreign Language Film for A Fantastic Woman and Roma. Participant also earned 62 Emmy® Award nominations and 18 wins, including two wins for the groundbreaking When They See Us. Participant partnered with key nonprofits and NGOs to drive real-world impact and awareness around some of the most vital issues on a global scale, and was the first major US entertainment company whose social and environmental impact has earned a B Corp Certification.
