Errol Morris’s documentary Separated takes a deep dive into the Trump administration’s family separation policy. But though the film has been purchased by MSNBC, you won’t see it airing on the channel before the election. Per The Wrap and reporting from journalist Oliver Darcy, NBC execs will not air the Oscar winner’s latest work until after the election.
Inspired by NBC reporter Jacob Soboroff’s 2020 nonfiction book Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, Morris’s doc was produced by NBC News Studios. Separated explores the machinations that led to the Trump administration’s policy of forcibly separating asylum-seeking migrant families who crossed the US-Mexico border. In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Morris said that due to Trump’s policy, “parents were forced to betray their children.”
“I felt that the policies were grotesque and that something should be said about them,” the filmmaker continued. “The issues that produce these policies remain with us, and the draconian attempts to solve them remain with us as well.”
Although such a documentary seems timely given the upcoming presidential election, NBC bosses have reportedly made the decision to air the documentary on MSNBC on December 7, despite acquiring it on October 1. Morris expressed his disappointment with the decision on X, suggesting that the release of Separated is intentionally being delayed. “Why is my movie not being shown on NBC prior to the election? It is not a partisan movie,” he recently posted. “It’s about a policy that was disgusting and should not be allowed to happen again. Make your own inferences.”
Darcy reported that airing the documentary would “hinder the network’s chances at luring Trump onto its stage” for a debate. In a statement provided to Vanity Fair, NBCUniversal vice president of communications Stephen Labaton said that “the debate had nothing to do with the scheduling of this programming.” And a representative from NBC gave the following statement: “We are proud of this film based on years of NBC News’ reporting on immigration policy and have supported it and embraced it from the ground up. We are fortunate that even amid this challenging documentary climate, we have been able to obtain significant visibility 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.”
Trump’s immigration policy was dismantled when Joe Biden took office in January 2021. But as of March 2024, more than 2,000 children had reportedly not yet been reunited with their parents. “All this stuff is synthesized in a way that I think that nobody else has been able to do, in the way that Errol has in the film,” Soboroff told Vanity Fair. “The system is set up, whether it’s Trump or anyone else, to do this again.”
Separated has played at Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and is currently playing in New York at the IFC Film Center for a week-long Oscar qualifying theatrical run. The film’s theatrical release is set to conclude October 26th, just one week prior to the election which may have contributed to MSNBC’s decision to push the film to December.
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