Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro used his Hollywood Walk of Fame acceptance speech to champion the rights of immigrants in Los Angeles last night.
The Pan's Labyrinth and Shape of Water director, himself a Mexican immigrant, used his time on perhaps the world's most famous pavement to call attention to American politics.
“Right now, we are in a moment of great fear,” del Toro said. “Great fear and great division because that’s why fear is used. It’s used to divide us. It’s used to tell us that we’re all different, that we shouldn’t trust each other.
“These lies make us easier to control and make it easier to hate each other. But, the antidote to that is to come together, to realise that those divisions are complete fantasies.”
The rhetoric focusing on immigration has been a hot topic recently with news reports of unsafe detention camps at the border showing men, women, and children sleeping in harsh conditions and without basic hygiene products.
On receiving his star, Del Toro continued: “This is very important this is happening right now because I can tell to all of you, all immigrants from every nation, that you should believe in the possibilities and not the obstacles.
“Do not believe the lies they tell about us. Believe in the stories you have inside and believe that we all can make a difference and we all have stories to tell and we all can contribute to the art and the craft and the world in any way we see fit.”
