I hope this gets a theatrical release ... and something else

and a couple of film fest premieres. Just saying'.

UPDATE.

So upon reading a more detailed synopsis (IndieWire) this reminds of Smart People (2009). There are some similarities. In that movie the professor (Dennis Quaid) is widowed instead of divorced and has a conservative/traditional daughter (played by Ellen Page); as the story progresses he forms a romantic/sexual relationship with one of his past students, now in the working world, in which she becomes pregnant. She eventual has the baby - all with baby pictures during credits. They become one happy family. Throughout this story he's aided by his laid back brother (Thomas Haden Church).

All of that compared to Sun Belt Express' synopsis: Unconventional ethics professor who smuggles illegal immigrants across the border (how cliche) on weekends has fallen for one of his students - who I think is also portrayed as a Mexican (probably immigrated legally). And guess what, she's pregnant with his baby! His conservative daughter follows in her mother's footsteps politically - wanting badly to win her school's race for Republican club president. In place of a funny and laid back brother, the ethics professor is aided by funny and lovable illegal immigrants (like that chubby Mexican guy in cast pics).

I can picture it all before it happens. The unconventional ethics professor does this smuggling because "it's the right thing to do" and "it feels right." Unlike his cold hearted Republican ex-wife. You can apply those feelings when he sleeps with his student. There was a brief "trailer" on the official site where is showed the daughter and a woman (who I presume is the professor's student) sitting silently in the desert - the woman is eating something and she offers it to the daughter. The daughter accepts the offer. They share a moment. I bet the thought process goes something like this: "She isn't so bad. Maybe having a 20 something yr old 'mom' won't be so bad. I'll have a younger sibling!"

Of course this is all without humor. Humor makes everything okay, from finding out your dad impregnated one of his students (this entire situation is used to make the audience sympathetic to student and "her people's" plight aka getting to America illegally) and finding that he smuggles illegals across the border. The plot devices seem like they're made to "soften" the conservative daughter's heart and change her views.

Unconventional ethics professor (really?) who smuggles illegals across the border. Conservative daughter (whose political views will probably change at the end given the plot devices). Republican politician ex-wife (probably portayed as the evil parent). Chubby Mexican who serves as the funny side kick (probably immigrated illegally). Pretty young Mexican woman (probably the impregnated student). Humor makes it all okay. All you need is drone strike to make it complete.

I was looking forward to it, but now I'm not sure. If this is the director's way of saying "We're all human. Why do we give these people a hard time? They just want to make a living. We should just grant them amnesty," I'll be disappointed. But given his tone and what he said in his kickstarter video I'm skeptical.

I'd love to be proven wrong - and by the end of writing this my enthusiasm for it, thought diminished, is still present.


2013: Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Her, Short Term 12, Only Lovers Left Alive