Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office.
DEADLINE: The film takes place during President Trumps first term.
When did you actually start filming?
Victoria Ratermains as Sophie in ‘A Lien’Lefty Films/Willa
SAM CUTLER-KREUTZ:Cameras were rolling sometime in the summer of 21.
DEADLINE: What led you both to creating this film?
Do you have any personal attachments to this subject matter?
William Martinez as Oscar inA LienLefty Films/Willa
We learned about this specific entrapment process in 2018 through an article that we read.
And it just struck both of us immediately.
And it has been impactful.
We also talked to lawyers to ask about approaching this topic.
This film was really made in general through basically no money.
Everyone just did it because they really thought it was important.
DEADLINE: Was there ever a thought to make this into a documentary instead?
So much of this process is so uncertain.
And I might be fine and I might not be fine, and I just dont know.
It just depends on the day and it depends on ICEs schedule and stuff like that.
SAM CUTLER-KREUTZ:Theres a question around access as well.
I also think that we are narrative filmmakers at heart.
Were not documentary filmmakers.
Those are skills that we dont have.
And we had a very intentional shot list of what we were going to shoot.
And so we almost filmed it as if it was a documentary.
DEADLINE: Talk more about the vibe captured on screen.
Theres a lot of technical camerawork going into evoking anxiety and the multistep process of going through government facilities.
How did you go about creating this feeling?
Its basically a film about paperwork.
This bureaucratic heavy moment.
We spent a lot of time talking to Andrea about how we restrict peoples vision.
This numbered waiver and this form and that form, and that maw of paperwork and hallways and doors.
We were thinking about making
SAM CUTLER-KREUTZ:A Kafka-esque nightmare, if you will.
DEADLINE: How did you work with Victoria and William Martinez to create the performance needed for this?
SAM CUTLER-KREUTZ:Will and Victoria were incredible.
And we spent almost six or eight months casting.
We looked at 6,000 people just to pull the two of them out of that process.
It was a gigantic reverse funnel that led to the single couple.
Theyre just amazing actors.
Were so excited that they were able to be in the project and work with us.
DAVID CUTLER-KREUTZ:Yeah, they stood out, for sure.
DEADLINE: What would you like people to consider as they watchA Lienfor the first time?
DAVID CUTLER-KREUTZ:A huge hope for us is that the film really promotes conversation around [immigration].
But at the end of the day, immigration, and this film, is just about family.
Its about taking your kid to school, its about cooking dinner with each other.
And I dont think you might disagree with the choices being made by the people in the film.
Theyre making the most logical choices that they can, given the information that they know.
How do we want the country to be?
