The new short film, “Blood Money,” tackles the billion-dollar business behind immigration detention head-on.
The story intertwines different narratives of the people impacted by enforcement, from detention camps where protestors and detainees make their voices heard to a young Latino ICE agent who awaits his paycheck to cover a loved one’s medical expenses.
Director and filmmaker Ellen Gavin said it was important to highlight all the people touched by the business of ICE.
“If we touch people’s hearts, we can move their feet,” said Gavin. “We get a lot of daily information about these horrors — but if you really feel something in your gut and then you translate that to a broader societal response, you can be moved to change.”
“Blood Money” is also one of the final on-screen appearances of late civil rights icon Dolores Huerta. Huerta died last month at the age of 96 after decades advocating for farm worker rights, education, and civil rights.
Actor and musician Julio Maximiliano Rojas stars as a protest leader in the film. He said Huerta’s advocacy resonates with him and thousands of others.
“She had a profound impact on my life and my perspective,” he said. “Right is right and wrong is wrong. No matter what your political-leaning argument is, this isn’t about fiscal revenues and savings. This is about straight up violence and cruelty.”
Watch “Blood Money” by Ellen Gavin below. Click here to view Gavin’s preceding film, “The People, United.”
