Errol Morris’s documentary Separated offers an in-depth examination of the Trump administration’s family separation policy.
Despite the film being acquired by MSNBC, it won’t be airing on the channel before the upcoming election.
According to reports and journalist Oliver Darcy, NBC executives have decided to hold off on airing the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s latest project until after the election.
Separated is based on NBC reporter Jacob Soboroff’s 2020 nonfiction book Separated: Inside an American Tragedy.
Produced by NBC News Studios, the documentary delves into the policy that forcibly separated asylum-seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration.
In an exclusive interview, Morris expressed his outrage at the policy, stating that “parents were forced to betray their children” as a result of the administration’s actions.
“I found the policies grotesque, and I felt it was important to say something about them,” Morris said. “The issues that produced these policies are still with us, and the harsh attempts to address them persist as well.”
While Separated seems particularly relevant with the election looming, NBC has decided to schedule the film’s airing on MSNBC for December 7, even though it was acquired on October 1.
Morris has publicly expressed his frustration with this decision on X (formerly Twitter), hinting that the delay was intentional.
“Why is my movie not being shown on NBC prior to the election? It is not a partisan movie,” he posted.
“It’s about a policy that was disgusting and should not be allowed to happen again. Make your own inferences.”
Darcy’s reporting suggests that airing the documentary might jeopardize NBC’s chances of getting Trump to participate in a debate hosted by the network.
However, NBCUniversal vice president of communications Stephen Labaton denied any connection between the debate and the programming schedule, stating, “the debate had nothing to do with the scheduling of this programming.”
A representative from NBC added, “We are proud of this film, which is based on years of NBC News’ reporting on immigration policy. We have supported it fully from the beginning.
Despite the challenges in the documentary industry, we’ve secured significant exposure at two prestigious film festivals and now an expanding theatrical run, which qualifies it for major awards, including the Oscars, ahead of its television debut.”
The family separation policy was dismantled when Joe Biden took office in January 2021, yet as of March 2024, over 2,000 children had still not been reunited with their parents.
Soboroff emphasized the importance of Morris’s film, saying, “All this is synthesized in a way that no one else has been able to do, in the way that Errol has in the film.
The system is set up, whether it’s Trump or anyone else, to do this again.”
Separated has already made appearances at the Venice Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival, and is currently screening at the IFC Film Center in New York for a week-long Oscar-qualifying run.
The theatrical release is set to wrap on October 26, just one week before the election.
