1. Last Whites of the East End
Documentary exploring the effect of mass immigration on the dwindling white community of the East End, from the perspective of those who remain and those who chose to leave.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
2. In the Shadows
This documentary by Dan Glynn follows the personal story of Jairo, a hard-working Mexican who immigrates to the US in order to find work to support his family back in Mexico. The film looks at current immigration issues in the United States. The story takes a dramatic turn, when Jairo's cousin is arrested by local police putting the entire family in danger of deportation. In the movie we meet numerous people who want to stem the tide of immigration from Mexico as well as people who help those who make the long, arduous journey to new employment in the United States.
3. La Guerre des centimes (La Guerre des centimes)
(La Guerre des centimes)
4. The Flood
The decision to move to Holland doesn't sound like a wise idea. Why move to a country that could be flooded at any moment? For the last 25 years, the political climate has shifted. The public debate on migration has become harsher, more heated, and polarized. What would have been considered right-wing xenophobia back then, is now considered mainstream. Populists simplify complex realities into good and evil, victims and perpetrators: ‘us’ versus ‘them’. Their rhetoric often consists of dehumanizing words and metaphors. One of these is ‘water’. In reality, water is not an immediate threat to the average Dutch person; but it is a huge threat to the thousands trying to reach the Netherlands. People trying to survive the Mediterranean Sea in rubber boats. Trying to survive winter on the Aegean coast in primitive tents. To them, water really is deadly.
5. Babylon (Babylon)
After the insurrection erupted in Libya in the spring of 2012, more than a million people flocked to neighboring Tunisia in search of a safe haven from the escalating violence. When a massive refugee camp was hastily constructed near the Ras Jdir border checkpoint in Tunisia, a trio of filmmakers carried their cameras in and began filming with no agenda. This on-the-fly chronicle of the camp's installation, operation, and dismantling captures a postmodern Babel complete with a multinational population of displaced folk, a regime of humanitarian aid workers, and international media that broadcasts its “image” to the world. Visually stunning and refreshingly undogmatic, Babylon reveals a rarely seen aspect of the Arab Spring.
6. Faceless Heroes
Brussels, Béguinage church. Migrants organize a hunger strike to obtain papers. A man dies. Tunisia, Libya. A border camp of Choucha refugees tell the horror of crossing the Sahara to the north. Liège. In a refugee center, a man narrates his Mediterranean crossing in a chamber of air. Three moments of a battle for survival.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
7. Ion (Ion)
My name is Ion. Who could have imagined the fate that awaited me: my birth under the Romanian dictatorship, the loss of my eyesight through an accident, my sudden escape from my homeland to seek a future that was a little too idyllic? One thing is certain: fate is like all the criminals that I listen to today for the Belgian federal police. With a little willpower, there is always a way to dodge its tricks. The person who taught me that is a close and loyal childhood friend. That friend is literature. Without her, I probably would not be what I am now, here, among you.
It has an average vote of 1 on TMDB.
8. Cohen's War
An hour-long portrait of Canadian immigration lawyer, M. Lee Cohen, renowned for his work with refugees. The film follows his representation of Sonya Pecelj and Vladimir Zalipyatskikh. The first case follows a young woman, Sonya Pecelj from Kosovo, who seeks sanctuary for more than a year in a church; the second case follows a Russian sailor who dives off a ship in Halifax Harbour to escape virtual imprisonment by the Russian fish mafia.
9. Morkovcha [Korean Carrot Salad] (Морковча)
This film tells a story of ethnic Koreans from Russia and the post-Soviet territories making their new home in New York City. The history of the diaspora is told through conversations with Lidiya Kan’s mother, personal stories, fragmented memories, and her family photo archive. An important character of the film is Morkovcha, the Korean carrot salad, an invention of the Russian Korean diaspora; its essence is symbolic of their mixed identity.
10. America Becoming
Looks at the United States as it becomes an increasingly diverse nation. Tracing the history of significant changes in the Immigration and Nationality Act beginning in 1965, this program introduces a dramatic vision of a multi-cultural America where people of color are the new majority. The feelings and stories of ordinary people are featured in everyday context in six cities across the county. Interviews with residents of Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Miami and several other places probe the changing relationships between newcomers and established residents.
11. Aan ons den arbeid
Documentary that shows the changing attitude towards immigrant labor in The Netherlands. The documentary follows three immigrants that arrived in Holland 30 years ago to work in a bakery.
It has an average vote of 8.5 on TMDB.
12. Visions of Europe
Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
It has an average vote of 4.882 on TMDB.
13. Kelly (Kelly)
(Kelly)
14. Out of Ireland
Over the course of two centuries, seven million men, women and children abandoned their homeland for America's shores. In just one horrifying decade, two million left to escape a famine that left another million dead. This is the moving chronicle of the Irish immigrant experience.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
15. Fugitive, Where Are You Running to? (Fugitif, où cours-tu ?)
Life for refugees and migrants stuck at Calais: Filmed amidst the camps, the beaches, the sea and the sky, impressions of the lived experiences of these people wavering between despair and hope.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
16. Common Ground
An internet personality journeys to his hometown on the border between Texas and Mexico to visit family members, only to discover that his family’s immigration story parallels that of people risking everything to immigrate to the U.S. today.
17. Borderless
Lauren Southern investigates what is really happening at Europe’s borders. From interviews with human traffickers in Morocco to secret recordings of illegal NGO activity in Greece, Borderless will blow the European Border Crisis wide open.
It has an average vote of 6.9 on TMDB.
18. From Mexico to Vietnam: a Chicano story
This film tells the story of Jesus Duran, who immigrated from Mexico at a young age, and did his military service in Vietnam where, through a heroic act, he saved his platoon, and was awarded a posthumous medal of honor in 2014.
19. Sky and Ground
Three generations of the Nabi family flee their home in Aleppo and try to make it to safety in Germany where some members of the family have already settled. Along the way they suffer countless setbacks and heartache.
20. Ilse
When Ilse Cruz was a toddler, she and her mom immigrated from Mexico to Chicago in search of better opportunities. Now a passionate dancer and ambitious high school student, Ilse hopes to go to college and one day visit the family she left behind. However, her undocumented status pushes these dreams further out of reach. Halfway through her senior year, Ilse learns her DACA permit qualifies her for a special document that allows her to return to Mexico. Through a life-changing trip, Ilse reconnects with her family and Mexican roots – and her legal re-entry to the U.S. fast-tracks her application process for permanent residency. Six months after she graduates from high school, Ilse obtains her green card – mere weeks before Donald Trump takes office. While Ilse’s mother rejoices in these unexpected events for her daughter, her own fate grows ever more uncertain.