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Film Reviews

Many of these feature-length films can be found on www.imdb.com or www.amazon.com. Movies are arranged by year and then alphabetically by title. A special thanks to Sheela Murthy for compiling many of these films.

While some movies deal directly with immigration as a theme, others are slightly more nuanced yet still touch on the topic. If you know of an immigration-themed movie that is not on this list, please let us know.

Miss Universe 1929

Director Peter Forgacs (El Perro Negro, 2005) returns to Tribeca with this true story of Marci Tenczer, amateur filmmaker, who, smitten with his cousin, follows her from Austria to her crowning as the first Miss Universe at a pageant in Texas. Her rise coincides with that of Adolf Hitler, who turns the universe upside-down.

Year Released: 2007

Never Forever

This film from the Sundance Film Festival is about a biracial American couple. When the woman is unable to conceive, she boldly begins a relationship with an illegal immigrant from Korea. This film has been praised for its art direction and costume design. Writer / director Gina Kim has also received accolades for her abilities as well as Vera Farmiga for her role as the ethereal beauty, Sophie.

Year Released: 2007

Padre Nuestro

Sundance 2007 brings us this film written and directed by Christopher Zalla. Juan and Pedro meet on a truck carrying illegal immigrants from Mexico to New York. Pedro is on his way to find the father he has never known. He shows Juan a letter of introduction, written by his deceased mother. When they arrive in New York, Pedro wakes to find his new friend has vanished - along with Pedro's belongings. Padre Nuestro is at once a thriller about stolen identity and a tale of the human need to be loved.

Year Released: 2007

Sentenced Home

This documentary follows three Cambodian-American men, brought to the U.S. as children by their refugee families. Raised in the grim public housing of Seattle, among gangs and other realities of that life, bad choices made as teens altered their lives forever, when immigration laws after 9/11 provided no second changes for such children. Though they were raised in the U.S., speak to one another in English, and even think in English, each is sentenced to return to Cambodia and must leave their family in the U.S., possibly forever. Produced and directed by Nicole Newnham.

Year Released: 2007

The Kite Runner

Based on the acclaimed novel by Khaled Hosseini, this haunting film of loss is about the power of a childhood friendship to endure beyond separation caused by war and by death. Directed by Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction 2006; Monster's Ball 2001).

Year Released: 2007

Under The Same Moon

Heartwarming story about a mother who leaves Mexico to make a home for herself and her son (Adrian Alonso). When the boy's grandmother dies, leaving him alone, he sets off on his own to find his mother (Kate del Castillo). Directed by Patricia Riggen. Recognizing that this theme is more than just the plot for a movie, the film's website has provided links to organizations that help to reunite separated immigrant families.

Year Released: 2007

Detained

A film about Olof who was detained by the INS after a holiday in Sweden. He was put in a federal detention center in Louisiana for two years--a prison he had no reason to be in. Through his experience, viewers learn about how dysfunctional immigration laws constitute real danger to every legal resident in America. A film by Michele Barber and Laura deNey.

Year Released: 2006

Divided We Fall: Americans In The Aftermath

While not precisely about detention, it is about the discrimination and hate crimes directed at South Asians in the aftermath of 9/11, immigrants and citizens alike.

Year Released: 2006

God Grew Tired Of Us

God Grew Tired of Us won the jury prize and audience award for U.S. documentaries at Sundance 2006. The film follows three Sudanese boys, refugees from Sudan's bloody civil war, as they try to adjust to life in the U.S. Coming from unspeakable conditions, these young people's honesty and goodness is unquestionable.At the heart of the film the question is raised, "What conditions create a civilized society?" Directed by Christopher Quinn.

Year Released: 2006

Golden Venture

Documentary by filmmaker Peter Cohn that traces the lives of passengers of a freighter, smuggling 286 immigrants, that ran aground near New York in 1993. Hoping their expensive journey (at least $30,000 each) from China's Fujian Province would buy them entry into the U.S. and the anonymity necessary to merge unnoticed, the crash of the Golden Venture was just the beginning of their experience in American bureaucracy.

Year Released: 2006