A masked ICE agent in ‘Water Cooler’
Spoonbill Stories/Message Pictures
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Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard, Alisa Payne Join ‘Water Cooler’ As EPs.
EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award nominees Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard, and Alisa Payne are joining the Oscar-contending short documentary Water Cooler as executive producers.
Emma V.F. directed the film, which she shot in the corridors of immigration court at Federal Plaza in New York City. Filming openly, V.F. captured scenes of jarring contrast: ICE agents engaged in mundane “water cooler” talk and then those same agents seizing migrants in the hallways who were following proper procedures to seek legal status in the U.S.
At one moment, the agents – most of them masked – would be talking amongst themselves about shopping for Black Friday deals, for instance, or the latest taser models. The next moment, they were forcibly detaining someone who had showed up to immigration court little expecting to be grabbed before they walked into court.
“The observational documentary — which [V.F.] 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,” notes a description. Water Cooler won Best Documentary Short at Palm Springs International ShortFest 2026, qualifying the film for Oscar consideration.
“Water Cooler is an urgent documentary short that sends a powerful message about a defining issue of our time,” said Pollard (MLK/FBI, Tutu). “America is at a tipping point with ICE and their outrageous incursions into our cities, which is why films like this are so important.”
Gandbhir (The Perfect Neighbor, The Devil Is Busy), observed, “Emma V.F.’s film Water Cooler honors the direct cinema style pioneered by Bob Drew and D. A. Pennebaker while turning her lens on masked federal agents. Even in a short runtime, it does what the films of those pioneers did — immerses you in a world that is crucial to see for yourself.”
Masked ICE agents confer in ‘Water Cooler’
Spoonbill Stories/Message Pictures
Water Cooler screens on Saturday at the Hamptons International Film Festival in New York, on Sunday, October 18 at the Woodstock Film Festival in New York, and on October 24 at AFI Fest in Los Angeles. Next month, it’s programmed at the St. Louis International Film Festival. In addition to Palm Springs International ShortFest, the documentary has screened at DC/DOX in the nation’s capital.
The documentary is a production of Spoonbill Stories and Message Pictures, the latter a company founded by Gandbhir, Pollard, and Payne (Payne earned an Oscar nomination earlier this year for producing The Perfect Neighbor). Water Cooler is directed, produced, filmed and edited by Emma V.F. Along with Gandbhir, Pollard, and Payne, Blair Foster (Marty, Life is Short; Taxi to the Darkside) serves as an executive producer. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Seeds, Union, Power) composed the original score.
V.F. directed the 2023 documentary feature Queen of New York. Her producing credits include In the Same Breath (HBO); Silver Dollar Road (Amazon Studios); Take Your Pills: Xanax (Netflix) and Once Upon a Time in Uganda.
“As the granddaughter of Italian immigrants and Jewish New Yorkers who would be outraged to see masked federal agents disappearing law-abiding people down stairwells in their city, I knew this was a film I needed to make,” Emma V.F. said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to partner with Message Pictures to share the film more widely in hopes that it inspires collective action opposing ICE.”
Watch a teaser-trailer for Water Cooler here:
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was appointed the United Nations’ first global advocate for human-centric digital governance in March, is arguing that instead of being afraid of AI, “we should be concerned about the people building AI.”
In a new video interview with The New York Times, the actor was asked his current biggest fear about the technology. “I would object to that question just because reducing these concerns into one sound bite of fear — that’s one of the problems,” Gordon-Levitt responded.
“To me, saying: Oh, I’m scared that AI could exterminate all of humanity — that doesn’t really get at the substance of the concern. There’s real validity to that concern. But that’s not the thing that really worries me,” he said, explaining that his worries are “a lot more complicated and a lot more boring to talk about, because it’s a lot more dense,” citing “the decline of democracy, the decline of human empathy” as a concern.
“These companies are betting on the notion that they’re going to take over the entire economy. That would be totalitarianism, and that would be really bad,” Gordon-Levitt added. “Simultaneously, these models are being trained to hijack your intimacy, to make friends with you, to get you to fall in love with it. We shouldn’t be scared of an AI. We should be concerned about the people building AI.”
The Don Jon star previously opened up about his concerns about AI, arguing at a panel hosted by The Hollywood Reporter and Autodesk at Sundance that “we need to build a system for ongoing compensation” as the technology depends on “human input.”
He also joined a group of industry insiders last December to form the Creators Coalition on AI, with its mission being to provide “a central coordinating hub to upgrade our industry’s systems and institutions.” The group additionally has an advisory council that seeks “to establish shared standards, definitions and best practices as well as ethical and artistic protections for if and when AI is used in entertainment projects.”
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Catherine Zeta-Jones wants to see less AI “actors” onscreen and more undiscovered human talents.
The Oscar winner recently commented on actors that have “given themselves over” to artificial intelligence companies, explaining that she prefers “not knowing anything” about the actors she watches in movies and television.
“There’s so many actors already, who have given themselves over to an AI company, and that’s everyone’s choice,” she told the Associated Press. “But I like going to the theater and seeing real people talk.”
Zeta-Jones continued, “I like going to movies and not knowing anything about the actors. I don’t wanna know who they’re sleeping with, what they wore, what they drink in the morning, how they keep their figure. I wanna be taken away and see a character, and that has happened for years.”
The Kill Jackie star’s comments come amid ongoing concerns around AI’s plagiarism of copyrighted materials and the threat it poses to jobs in Hollywood and beyond, as well as recent warnings from those working in AI that continued progress could “cause a billion deaths.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order last month to fast-track stringent oversight and control of AI. Convening “a group of world-leading experts” within the next 60 days, the order lays out a discussion of “safety plans” and “an emergency shutoff, or ‘kill switch,’ for frontier models.”
On a federal level, Trump has brushed off concerns about AI as “a hoax,” insisting the U.S. government “already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power” over AI companies.
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The Jimmy Kimmel Live family is mourning the death of costume designer Rodney Muñoz at age 60.
On Friday, the talk show host paid tribute to the late Emmy winner who designed costume for Kimmel’s ABC talk show since 2002, after a friend of Muñoz announced that he died on Oct. 2.
“Our dear friend and Costume Designer for almost 30 years, Rodney Muñoz, has sadly passed away,” wrote Kimmel on Instagram, sharing behind-the-scenes photos of Muñoz’s work on the show.
“Rodney was one of the most talented people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. He was a funny, surly, hard-working man whose tough exterior hid a huge and generous heart. Rodney helped many of us through difficult times. He was a devoted son, brother, and Uncle; a great baker, and a caring friend. No man saw me in my underpants more,” added Kimmel. “We will miss Rodney as he joins his beloved parents in whatever comes next.”
Kimmel’s post comes after Muñoz’s friend Joe Dietl announced his death last weekend, noting that he suffered “many health issues” in recent years after he was diagnosed with COVID, which required him to be put into a coma and on a ventilator.
Born Sept. 4, 1966 in Los Angeles, Muñoz received his BFA and MFA in costume design at NYU, where he graduated in 1993, before going on to work as costume designer on The Late Show with David Letterman from 1995 to 2000.
Following his work with Kimmel on Comedy Central’s The Man Show, Muñoz became the costume designer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! when it launched in 2003.
His work on the ABC talk show earned him a Primetime Emmy in 2010 for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety/Music Program or a Special.
In addition to working in wardrobe on NBC’s Fear Factor in 2002 and the indie gay series Where the Bears Are from 2012 to 2018, Muñoz also designed costumes for the stage in the off-Broadway shows I Sent a Letter to My Love (1995), The Preservation Society (1996) and Ancient History/English Made Simple (1996).
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