A Mexican social activist fearing for his life seeks asylum in the U.S. He finds illegal work on a Vermont dairy farm alongside other undocumented workers. Here he learns that their ambiguous status leaves them vulnerable to the injustice, abuse and cruelty they were escaping from.
Princesses (2005)
Caye is a young prostitute whose family is unaware of her profession. She meets her striking Dominican neighbour Zulema, an illegal immigrant, after she finds her in the bathroom, badly beaten up. They strike up a close friendship unbeknownst to Caye's xenophobic co-workers.
Joy (2018)
Close to paying off her debts, a Nigerian sex worker in Austria coaches a reluctant novice, and assesses the risks of taking a faster path to freedom.
El Norte (1983)
Brother and sister Enrique and Rosa flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life.
Gabriela (2023)
It's the summer after high school graduation and Gabriela, a young undocumented Guatemalan woman, pursues her dream of swimming for an illustrious Country Club swim team. Despite her single-minded determination, Gabriela is continually confronted with her overprotective mother’s ears, limitations on her economic and legal status, and self-judgment. As she questions her self-worth against the structures of contemporary American Southern life, Gabriela embarks on a quest towards personal freedom and self-acceptance.
Frozen River (2008)
After her husband deserts her, working-class mother Ray Eddy is in great need of money to find a home. Lured by the possibility of easy cash, she joins Lila, a widowed Mohawk who earns a living by smuggling immigrants from Canada to the U.S. across the St. Lawrence.
Kidnap Capital (2016)
Imagine leaving everything you have, everyone you know, everyone you love, behind. Having to cross half a continent on foot, atop freight trains, inside truck trailers. Swimming across wild rivers. Crossing borders illegally. Walking across the Arizona desert. Being shot at, robbed and beaten. Raped. Surviving it all. Crossing into the USA, after life in the poorest parts of Central America. Succeeding. Now. In the “promised” land, you don’t belong, legally; or socially. You don’t understand the language. No one knows you arrived, no one knows you exist. Imagine…. being Nobody. Then imagine a bag being shoved over your head. Getting your clothes stripped from you. Getting tossed in a closed room with a dozen others. A loaded gun is pointed at your head. You are forced to call back home and beg for money, a ransom for your life.
Capernaum (2018)
After running away from his negligent parents, committing a violent crime and being sentenced to five years in jail, a hardened, streetwise 12-year-old Lebanese boy sues his parents in protest of the life they have given him.
La Promesse (1996)
Igor, aged 15, and his father Roger deal in housing and peddling illicit labor in the outlying districts of Liege, Belgium. Scams, lies and swindling rule their lives. When one of his father’s illegal workers gets injured on the job and asks Igor to promise to take care of his wife and baby, Igor finds himself at a crossroad. He wants to keep the promise, but the price would be to betray his father.
Unimundo 45 (2018)
When an anti-immigrant candidate wins the presidency, a jaded Latina news producer sheds her cynicism and reconnects with her suppressed activist side on live TV.
Chameleon (2015)
When his secret girlfriend falls ill, an undocumented worker living in Toronto must choose between getting caught and getting her the emergency medical attention she desperately needs.
Cranberry Nights (2020)
Behind her mother's back, 16-year old Juana sneaks out to a party to get closer to her crush, Robin. She never suspects that her best friend, Kelly, will risk Juana's life with a drunken slip of the tongue.
Border Incident (1949)
The story concerns two agents, one Mexican (PJF) and one American, who are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant.
A Girl at My Door (2014)
Sent from Seoul to serve in a remote coastal village, a policewoman gets involved in the life of a mysterious teenage girl who is abused by both her father and her grandmother.
Nanny (2022)
Aisha, a Senegalese immigrant who takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy white family in New York City, finds herself consumed by unsettling visions and a growing rage.
The Serbian Girl (1991)
The naive 18 year old Dobrila leaves her little Serbian village to travel to Hamburg, Germany, where her boyfriend lives. The trip is not easy. Finally in Hamburg she has to realize her boyfriend is not very interested in a relationship. She doesn't tell him she's pregnant and starts on her way home to Serbia, which turns out to be even more exhausting.
Biutiful (2010)
This is a story of a man in free fall. On the road to redemption, darkness lights his way. Connected with the afterlife, Uxbal is a tragic hero and father of two who's sensing the danger of death. He struggles with a tainted reality and a fate that works against him in order to forgive, for love, and forever.
The Home Song Stories (2007)
A glamorous Hong Kong performer struggles to make a home in suburban 1960s Australia.
Preparation for the Next Life (2025)
Aishe, a Uyghur woman trained by her military father, migrates to New York City where she finds herself laboring in Chinatown’s underground kitchens. She fatefully encounters Skinner, a young American soldier who has just returned from three tours in the Middle East. While falling in love, they discover the possibility of a better life together than the ones they believed they were destined to live alone.