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People risk all kinds of things to make movies — money, reputations, sometimes even their health. But in “The Infiltrators,” it feels as if the crew we see on-screen is putting their lives on the line for a cause they believe in, and that the movie is just a byproduct, as opposed to the principal mission.

In that way, it’s like “The Cove,” the remarkable dolphin-saving doc in which marine-life activists sneaked into a secluded Japanese killing field like soldiers on a special-ops mission. “The Infiltrators” also documents a courageous undercover operation, this one involving Dreamers who turn themselves over to Border Patrol officers in order to assist their fellow undocumented immigrants from inside a federal detention center — except, in this case, directors Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera rely on a mix of talking heads and reenactment footage to dramatize a mission for which principal coverage was limited to a few audio recordings.

"No one knows how this will all end." Oscilloscope Labs has debuted the official trailer for an acclaimed indie documentary-feature hybrid titled The Infiltrators, that first premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It won the Next Audience Award & Best of Next award, and went on to pick up a few more prizes including the Rogue Award as the Ashland Film Festival. The film is about a rag-tag group of undocumented youth - known as "DREAMers" - that deliberately get detained by the Us Border Patrol in order to infiltrate a shadowy, for-profit detention center. By weaving together documentary footage of the real infiltrators with re-enactments of the events inside the detention center, The Infiltrators tells an incredible and thrilling true story in a genre-defying new cinematic language. Starring Maynor Alvarado, Chelsea Rendon, Manuel Uriza, Juan Gabriel Pareja, and Vik Sahay. Looks like a vitally important and rousing, inspiring film. Here's...

Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to the critically acclaimed immigration feature The Infiltrators. Directed by Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, the film made its world premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival where it went on to won the Audience Award: Next and the Next Innovator Prize. Oscilloscope is set to release the feature in theaters before streaming on digital platforms.

The Infiltrators is a very timely docu-thriller that tells the true story of young immigrants who get detained by Border Patrol, and put in a shadowy for-profit detention center — on purpose. Marco (Maynor Alvarado) and Viri (Vida‘s Chelsea Rendon) are members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, a group of radical Dreamers who are on a mission to stop deportations. And the best place to stop deportations, they believe, is in detention. However, when they try to pull off a prison break in reverse,...

Undocumented immigrants are detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a regular basis, and their experiences could provide the foundation of a potent documentary, or a riveting social thriller. “The Infiltrators” endeavors to be both: Husband-and-wife co-directors Alex Rivera (“Sleep Dealer”) and Cristina Ibarra (“Las Marthas”) oscillates from real-life accounts of Dreamer activists going undercover in detention facilities to help reunite immigrants with their families, and fictional reenactments of the drama that unfolded inside.

The experimental approach takes some time to settle in and doesn’t always click, but at its best, “The Infiltrators” manages to personalize the undocumented struggle by transforming it into an unlikely blend of activism and suspense that makes a compelling case for the abolishment of Ice.

The two-pronged approach reflects its creators’ many modes: Rivera’s 2008 “Sleep Dealer” was a sci-fi allegory for contemporary immigration concerns, while Ibarra directed several documentaries on the same subject.

Chronicling the audacious acts of a group of organized undocumented youth prior to the Obama-implemented, temporary relief known as Daca (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), “The Infiltrators,” from Latinx directors Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, is a vital piece of hybrid cinema that shines light into the obscure realm of privately-operated immigration detention facilities. The timely film world-premiered Friday night at the Sundance Film Festival.

Interweaving firsthand accounts in talking-head format and scripted reenactments, Rivera and Ibarra construct a high-stakes, real-life drama centered on the National Immigrant Youth Alliance (Niya), comprised of resourceful and deeply committed DREAMers who’ve dared to defy the system, not only for their own benefit but also for the greater good.

“Everyone needs a plan,” says Niya activist Marco Saavedra (played by Maynor Alvarado in the docufiction sections) when detailing their strategy behind the 2012 infiltration of the Broward Transitional Center, an immigration jail in Florida,...

In today’s film news roundup, immigration drama “The Infiltrators” gets financing, Jake Busey is starring in a high-school comedy, and Stuart Ford’s Agc Studios hires two former Im Global executives.

Project Financing

Chicago Media Project Invest/Impact’s Paula Froehle and Steve Cohen have joined the immigration drama “The Infiltrators” as executive producers and financiers, Variety has learned exclusively.

Cmp I/I has invested previously in the Academy Award-winning documentary “Icarus,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” and Showtime’s series “The Fourth Estate.”

Directed and produced by Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, “The Infiltrators” centers on a small group of young undocumented immigrants who embark on a high-risk mission inside America’s for-profit detention system in order to set people free. The film, which mixes documentary with narrative dramatization, stars Chelsea Rendon, Vik Sahay, Maynor Alvarado, and Manuel Uriza.

Production is currently underway in Southern California. The...

Exclusive: Isabel Echeverry of Kontakto Reps and Erika Olmos of Olmos Management have joined forces to form Olmos Kontakto Entertainment, a new management firm focused on discovering and developing emerging Latino talent. Olmos Kontakto represents actors, writers, directors and other creatives and will also develop a slate of feature films, reality TV, and scripted TV that promote ethnic and cultural diversity. Advertising vet Echeverry has experience in the Us Hispanic market and a client roster via her commercials-focused Kontakto Reps that includes Believe Media, Carbo Films, Company 3, Beast Editorial, Boxer Films, Personal Music, Altered.La, Slim, Cherry Sundae and Nunchaku. Clients of Olmos include Jonathan Castellanos (Off the Map), Vannessa Vasquez (Sorrow), Maynor Alvarado (Chavez), and Bernardo Saracino (Bless me Ultima, 50 to 1). She has also produced a number of documentaries. Olmos Kontakto is currently repping feature film Asher, from writer-director Francisco Ordonez with Danny Glover, Mekhi Phiefer, Gina Rodriguez...