Gurtovaia said it will cost $24,000 to cover the legal and logistical expenses to bring him home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m working 60, 65 hours a week to cover it, but I\u2019m not able to cover it by myself,\u201d Gurtovaia said to the audience. \u201cShare our story. My husband has to be here in Chicago, because his home is here in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her story, \u201cEva\u2019s Story,\u201d premiered at Doc10, an annual Chicago film festival showcasing the top documentary films from around the world. But in its 11th year, the festival made a deliberate shift toward local storytelling and civic engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the folks that know (Doc10) have been asking, \u2018where are the (documentary) stories of what\u2019s been happening in Chicago?\u201d said Doc10 co-founder Paula Froehle. \u201cThe documentaries about this, they take you inside. The stories are often very intimate, individual stories of people whose lives have been affected beyond the most alarming moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Doc10 features 10 flagship films every year, this year\u2019s program expanded to include \u201cSpeak Truth,\u201d a new series focused on urgent civic issues. The festival\u2019s closing event, \u201cICE Under Watch: Media and Community Resistance,\u201d centered on the human cost of last year\u2019s large-scale immigration enforcement operation,<\/a> \u201cOperation Midway Blitz,\u201d which led to dozens of arrests across the Chicagoland area.<\/p>\n \u201cEva\u2019s Story\u201d was one of three shorts screened Sunday by Chicago filmmaker Andrew Freer, founder of Go Fourth Media, an investigative documentary company he launched during the height of the raids last October.<\/p>\n His films document stories like Gurtovaia\u2019s \u2014 and that of his neighbor, Scott Sakiyama, who said he was wrongfully detained by ICE. Freer\u2019s film \u201cScott\u2019s Story\u201d was also shown Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think some people are worried about getting targeted by telling their stories but for a lot of people, including Eva, this is the worst-case scenario,\u201d Freer said. \u201cThis is their last resort, getting the media out there to tell people what\u2019s happening in order to receive support and put pressure on the government.\u201d<\/p>\n Freer believes documentary film has a unique ability to humanize complex issues.<\/p>\n \u201cDocumentary in particular, more so than most mediums has a way to emotionally connect with people that other things can\u2019t,\u201d Freer said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get this in front of as many people as possible to show them, what does it feel like to be shot by ICE? What does it feel like to have your family members being targeted? What does it feel like to be here as a legal asylum seeker and then suddenly being told that you can\u2019t be here anymore, even though you\u2019ve done everything right?\u201d<\/p>\n He hopes the films keep attention on stories that are still unfolding.<\/p>\n \u201cRights are still getting violated, democratic values are still getting violated,\u201d Freer said. \u201cHopefully this can keep a pulse on things and make people aware that this happened last year, but it\u2019s still going on and we still need to pay attention and not lose focus.\u201d<\/p>\n Freer largely runs Go Fourth Media on his own, with the support of fellow filmmakers and volunteers. The company\u2019s name references both the Fourth Amendment and journalism\u2019s role as the Fourth Estate.<\/p>\n \u201cI started this because I hated what was happening to our community and our country,\u201d Freer said. \u201cI thought I could get out there and raise awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n Another film screened Sunday, \u201cEl Sue\u00f1o\u201d (\u201cThe Dream\u201d), comes from Chicago-based documentarian Carlos Javier Ortiz.<\/p>\n The unfinished feature film follows Venezuelan migrant families in Little Village over the past three years, from their arrival in 2022, when Venezuelan refugees were sent to Chicago in 2022<\/a> by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to the aftermath of last fall\u2019s ICE raids.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal of the film is to create an archive of a time and place in Chicago about community, love, resilience and beauty,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cPeople in American cities got teargassed by their government, that\u2019s gonna be obvious. But also, life kept going. People are not here to harm, they\u2019re not here to take, they\u2019re just human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n Ortiz and producer Alexandra Halkin are seeking funding to complete the verite-style film by 2027. This kind of film can feature handheld camera work and no narrator.<\/b><\/p>\n Supporting filmmakers is central to Doc10\u2019s mission, Froehle said, especially as funding becomes more uncertain.<\/p>\n![\"Filmmaker](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-L-ICE-documentary-panel03.jpg\")
Filmmaker Andrew Freer speaks during a panel discussion on \u201cICE Under Watch: Media and Community Resistance\u201d after documentary screenings Sunday, May 3, 2026, for the Doc10 Film Festival at Davis Theater in Lincoln Square. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Filmmaker](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-L-ICE-documentary-panel11.jpg\")
Filmmaker Carlos Javier Ortiz greets people after a panel discussion on “ICE Under Watch: Media and Community Resistance” following documentary screenings Sunday, May 3, 2026, for the Doc10 Film Festival at Davis Theater in Lincoln Square. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n