Immigration

Immigration

Personal stories about finding one's way in new countries and places.

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Immigration
  • Soledad

    Directed by Lisa Molomot • Documentary • 2020 • 24 minutes

    Soledad tells the story of a young woman from Central America who was imprisoned in the Eloy Detention Facility when she sought asylum in the United States. Soledad set out on a perilous journey from her homeland after enduring horrific ...

  • Stop Time

    Directed by Kate Way • Documentary • 2022 • 50 minutes

    Stop Time tells the story of Lucio Pérez—a father, husband and worker who took sanctuary in a Massachusetts church for over three years in defiance of a deportation order. Lucio’s moving narrative provides a window into the forces that broug...

  • English Hustle

    Directed by Charles Ableman • Documentary • 2023 • 32 minutes

    In 2020, there were over 100,000 Americans and at least 20,000 Filipinos teaching English to millions of Chinese students online. With billions of dollars in investment, the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) industry was the largest...

  • Nobody Wants Us

    Directed by Laura Seltzer-Duny • Documentary • With Simon Neufeld, Irving Redel, Annette Lachmann • 2020 • 43 minutes

    Through the stories of three teens, we learn about the inherent goodness of others at a time when the world seemed to be against them. With the help of a Virginia maritime lawyer...

  • La Camioneta

    Directed by Mark Kendall • Documentary • 2013 • 71 minutes

    Every day dozens of decommissioned school buses are sold at auction and depart the United States on a southward migration that carries them to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and reconstructed as the brightly-colored camio...

  • Life is Beautiful

    Directed by Mohamed Jabaly • Documentary • With Mohamed Jabaly • 2023 • 97 minutes

    Stuck in the arctic of Norway and refusing to accept the boundaries imposed by international politics and rigid bureaucracy, filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly insists on telling heartfelt stories from his hometown Gaza. De...

  • Miss Kiet's Children

    Directed by Petra Lataster-Czisch & Peter Lataster • Documentary • 2016 • 113 minutes

    Kiet Engels is the kind of teacher one wishes every schoolchild could have. She is strict but never harsh. She is loving but never soft. Her patience in endless.

    Many of Miss Kiet's pupils are refugees who hav...

  • This Is Home

    Directed by Alexandra Shiva • Documentary • 2018 • 91 minutes

    From acclaimed filmmaker Alexandra Shiva comes the urgent and beautiful story of a community of Syrian immigrants who are resettled in Baltimore in the US. Upon their arrival, they have eight months to find jobs, learn English, and be...

  • Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini

    Directed by Charly Wai Feldman • Documentary • 2023 • 89 minutes

    At 20, Sara was already famous. She fled Syria in 2015 with her younger sister Yusra. When their boat broke down as they were crossing the sea to Greece, Sara and Yusra and two others jumped into the waves and swam for three and a ...

  • From Swastika to Jim Crow

    Directed by Lori Cheatle • Documentary • 2000 • 60 minutes

    In the 1930s Jewish intellectuals who escaped Nazi Germany and immigrated to the U.S. faced an uncertain future. Confronted with anti-Semitism at American universities and a public distrust of foreigners, many sought refuge in an unlikel...

  • The Nine Muses

    Directed by John Akomfrah • Documentary • 2010 • 94 minutes

    Structured as an allegorical fable set between 1949 and 1970, THE NINE MUSES is comprised of nine overlapping musical chapters that mix archival material with original scenes. Together, they form a stylized, idiosyncratic retelling of t...

  • Where Can We Live In Peace?

    Directed by Judy Jackson • Documentary • 2023 • 64 minutes

    WHERE CAN WE LIVE IN PEACE? investigates the migrant crisis through the eyes of Pastor Ignacio Martinez, the founder of ABBA safehouse in Celaya, Mexico. Here, thousands of migrants receive help.

    The idea for ABBA began when Ignacio and...

  • From The Other Side (Chantal Akerman)

    Directed by Chantal Akerman • Documentary • 2002 • 99 minutes

    With her unmistakable style Chantal Akerman ("Arguably the most important European director of her generation."—J. Hoberman, The Village Voice) explores the border between the United States and Mexico.

    For years immigrants passed thr...

  • Gaza Online

    Directed by Mohamed Jabaly • Documentary • 2020 • 22 minutes

    Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly’s 2020 short film follows the interactions with friends and family back home in Gaza while living in exile in Northern Norway, not being able to return. Jabaly’s first award-winning feature Ambulanc...

  • School of Babel

    Directed by Julie Bertuccelli • Documentary • 2013 • 89 minutes

    Welcome to one Parisian school's program for newly arrived immigrant children from all over the world. At 'La Grange aux Belles' school in the diverse 10th district of Paris has a program for newly arrived immigrant children that pr...

  • American Arab

    Directed by Usama Alshaibi • Documentary • 2013 • 60 minutes

    In Kartemquin's American Arab, Iraqi-born Director Usama Alshaibi takes a provocative look at the contradictions of Arab identity in post 9/11 America, weaving his own life’s journey and “coming-of-Arab” experiences into the life stori...

  • My Worst Enemy

    Directed by Mehran Tamadon • Documentary • With Mehran Tamadon, Zar Amir Ebrahimi • 2023 • 82 minutes

    “What are you thinking? You’re thinking, ‘This is cinema. I’m sowing seeds to create a dialogue.’ Maybe you’ll be able to open a dialogue. A dialogue without any outcome.” — Zar Amir Ebrahimi

    F...

  • What Remains on the Way

    Directed by Jakob Krese, Danilo do Carmo • Documentary • With Lilian Florinda Hernández Lopez, Sergio Rigoberto Lopez Hernández, Blanca Lilian Lopez Hernández, Victor Noe Lopez Hernández, Anali Floridalma Lopez Hernández, Ana-Maria Escobar, Wilson Antonio Funez, Carlos Irving Mondragón Prad, Iren...

  • Midnight Traveler

    Directed by Hassan Fazili • Documentary • With Hassan Fazili, Fatima Hussaini • 2019 • 88 minutes

    When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee the country with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing the family’s uncertain journey firsthand, Fa...

  • Al Djanat, the Original Paradise

    Directed by Chloé Aïcha BORO • Documentary • 2023 • 83 minutes

    When her uncle dies, Chloé Aïcha Boro films the courtyard at the family house in Burkina Faso, where communal meetings and prayers have been held. Some of the heirs lay claim to it under French law, whereas others believe they can pr...

  • My Maysoon

    Directed by Batoul Karbijha • Documentary • 2023 • 55 minutes

    Filmmaker Batoul Karbijha uses making a film about her disappeared sister as a means of finding out what happened and as a way of dealing with it. For herself, for her family and for all families who lost loved ones on their way to a ...

  • Nice People

    Directed by Karin af Klintberg, Anders Helgeson • Documentary • 2015 • 90 minutes

    The teams' players don't live in Somalia any longer. They have immigrated to a small town in Sweden. None of the players have ever been on ice. The championship in Siberia starts in 6 months. Someone has clearly be...

  • In the Billowing Night

    Directed by Erika Etangsalé • Documentary • 2021 • 51 minutes

    Jean-René is a retired workman who has lived in Mâcon, France, since emigrating from Reunion Island at the age of 17. Today, for the first time ever, the quiet man recounts his story to his daughter. His journey is interspersed with e...

  • Abendland

    Directed by Nikolaus Geyrhalter • Documentary • 2011 • 90 minutes

    Western standard of living and the urge to exclude others from it are at the core of this film. Entirely shot at night, Geyrhalter takes us on a very personal journey through Europe and the structures that guarantee our “civilized...