a short documentary by Emma V.F.
a short documentary by Emma V.F.
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The Trump administration has turned immigration courts into deportation traps. As ICE agents wait to arrest their targets outside of courtrooms, their banal conversations clash with the severity of their actions.
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Production Notes: Emma V.F. filmed WATER COOLER at New York’s Federal Plaza
between November 2025 and January 2026. She worked as a one-person crew and
openly filmed feet away from ICE agents. Thanks to the intrepid reporters and photojournalists who covered ICE detentions over the summer of 2025, the local federal agents were used to press presence by the time Emma started production that fall. By observing quietly and filming persistently, Emma was able to gain the unprecedented documentary access featured in WATER COOLER.
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Photo Credit: David 'Dee' Delgado
Jury Statements:
The Hamptons International Film Festival jury awarded WATER COOLER the Best Documentary Short award in October 2026:
"The jury honors Water Cooler, a film that reveals a profound and urgent truth about our times: that acts of extraordinary rupture can unfold amid the most banal indifference. Through a spare and observational visual language, the filmmaker communicates enormous complexity."
The Hamptons International Film Festival jury awarded WATER COOLER the Best Documentary Short award in October 2026:
The Palm Springs International ShortFest jury awarded WATER COOLER the Best Documentary Short award in June 2026:
"This timely and provocative documentary inhabits an unnerving perspective. Juxtaposing mundanity and highly charged political and emotional layers, dissonance comes alive in a powerful and effecting way. In a short runtime, this film provides a nuanced and powerful portrait of a defining issue of our contemporary moment."
"This timely and provocative documentary inhabits an unnerving perspective. Juxtaposing mundanity and highly charged political and emotional layers, dissonance comes alive in a powerful and effecting way. In a short runtime, this film provides a nuanced and powerful portrait of a defining issue of our contemporary moment."