Renowned Filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez Joins Executive Producing Team On ICE-Themed Oscar Contender ‘Water Cooler’

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez has signed on to executive produce the award-winning short documentary Water Cooler, joining a distinguished group of talents.

Along with Gutiérrez (director of Frida and editor of RBG), the ICE-themed film is executive produced by Oscar nominees Sam Pollard, Geeta Gandbhir, and Alisa Payne through their production company Message Pictures, and by Emmy winner Blair Foster. Emma V.F. directed Water Cooler, which won Best Documentary Short at the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2026, qualifying it for Academy Award consideration. It also won the Golden Starfish Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival. The short makes its international debut at IDFA in Amsterdam, the world’s largest documentary festival that opens next week.

The 12-minute short “depicts federal agents waiting to arrest their targets outside of courtrooms in New York’s Federal Plaza immigration court,” notes a synopsis. “The observational documentary — which she filmed from November 2025 through January 2026 — juxtaposes agents’ casual conversations with tense scenes of the agents arresting immigrants who attended required court hearings to seek legal status.”

In a statement, Gutiérrez said, “Immigrants around the world are being scapegoated as the source of all of society’s problems. This dehumanization gives way to detached violence and cruelty, as Water Cooler strikingly portrays.”

Water Cooler has been shortlisted for the Cinema Eye Honors and chosen for DOC NYC’s shortlist of the year’s top documentaries; it screens at the latter festival on November 13 and is likewise set to screen at City Lights Film Festival in London on Nov. 16.

“I’m thrilled to have Carla’s support as Water Cooler debuts on the international festival circuit,” Emma V.F. commented. “I hope the film helps inspire people to fight the rise of fascism around the world.”