A collection of films for Immigrant Heritage Month honoring the immigrant experience.
An American Pickle stars Seth Rogen as Herschel Greenbaum, a struggling labourer who immigrates to America in 1919 with dreams of building a better life for his beloved family. One day, while working at his factory job, he falls into a vat of pickles and is brined for 100 years. The brine preserves him perfectly and when he emerges in present day Brooklyn, he finds that he hasn't aged a day. But when he seeks out his family, he learns that his only surviving relative is his great-grandson Ben Greenbaum (also played by Rogen), a mild-mannered computer coder whom Herschel can't even begin to understand.
Muna Farah, a Palestinian single mom, struggles to maintain her optimistic spirit in the daily grind of intimidating West Bank checkpoints, the constant nagging of a controlling mother, and the haunting shadows of a failed marriage. Everything changes one day when she receives a letter informing her that her family has been granted a U.S. green card.
An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
Escaping post-war Europe, a visionary architect arrives in America to rebuild his life. On his own in a strange new country, a wealthy industrialist recognizes his talent. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost...
Based on the true story of the life and times of Francesca Cabrini, recounting Cabrini's experiences arriving as an Italian immigrant in New York City in 1889, witnessing the living conditions of the city's poor, and taking on the city's mayor to improve living and healthcare conditions for all.
Forty years ago, Rafael Larraenza took his life into his hands to cross into the US from Mexico. After building a successful career and gaining legal status, a twist of fate rocked his comfortable middle-class existence and drew him back to the border. The first to systematically search for lost immigrants, he is a highly esteemed hero in Latin American communities, having spent the last 25 years searching the treacherous deserts and mountains for immigrants in need of rescue saving hundreds of lives and recovering the remains of those who perished attempting to cross.
Seventeen years after his family was separated by the civil war in Angola, a New York taxi driver is reunited with his now devoutly religious wife and teenage daughter when they are finally able to follow him to America. But after living thousands of miles apart for so long, the three find they must discover one another's strengths, forgive one another's weaknesses, and bridge cultural and generational divides to build a life together. Told in three perspective-shifting chapters that honor the multitude of struggles and emotions that make up the immigrant experience, Farewell Amor is a bittersweet, compassionate evocation of how it feels when your heart and your home are in different places.
It's the feel-good, coming-of-age story of Smith, a ten-year-old boy from India growing up in Small Town, America in 1979. As the boy's family tries to straddle the line between embracing the American Dream and preserving their Indian heritage, Smith sneaks out for a taste of Kentucky Fried Chicken, dons a Saturday Night Fever costume, and contends with his parents as they send him to school with a yellow squash instead of a pumpkin to carve for Halloween.
Ai Weiwei's detailed and heartbreaking exploration into the global refugee crisis.
Based on true love, this decades spanning romance begins in Mexico between an aspiring chef and a teacher. Their lives restart in incredible ways as societal pressure propels them to embark on a treacherous journey to NYC with dreams, hopes, and memories in tow.
The coming-of-age story of Daanyik, a nine-year-old Russian boy whose family immigrates to the United States in the late 1970s to pursue the American Dream. Daanyik's childhood of pencil drawings and toy soldier battles in Moscow is interrupted overnight as he is hurled into the harsh reality of adulthood in New York City. Upon losing his father Deema, Daanyik and his mother Meela are left poor, alone, and helpless in a foreign land.
A laugh-out-loud real-life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an almost-30-year-old Indian American who enters a love triangle between the woman of his dreams and...his parents.
A tender and sweeping story about what roots people that follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, this film shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
The Old Oak is a deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope. The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England, a gathering space for a community that has fallen through hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants. The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village.
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.
Having just moved from Beijing, elderly tai chi master Mr. Chu struggles to adjust to life in New York, living with his Americanized son Alex. Chu immediately butts heads with his put-upon white daughter-in-law, Martha, a writer who seems to blame him for her paralyzing inability to focus. But when Chu begins teaching tai chi at a local school, his desire to make a meaningful connection comes to fruition in the most unexpected of ways.
The summer after Ana's high school graduation is a turning point in her life. She has to decide whether to go to college and experience life, or stay home, get married and work at her sister's struggling garment factory.
Examines immigration policy under both the Trump and Obama administrations, investigates the origins of zero tolerance, and reveals the journeys and voices of children who were separated from their parents.
College-bound romantic Daniel Bae and Jamaica-born pragmatist Natasha Kingsley meet, and fall for each other, over one magical day amidst the fervor and flurry of New York City. Sparks immediately fly between these two strangers, who might never have met had fate not given them a little push. But will fate be enough to take these teens from star-crossed to lucky in love?
The film follows Jamshid Khajavi, a charismatic, fiery and funny Iranian American public-school counselor, as he mentors the members of an Ultimate Frisbee team assembled from the immigrant and refugee students arriving at his inner-city school in Seattle, WA. As their parents struggle to make a living and a home in a strange and often hostile new land, Jamshid helps his students cope with grief and loss while teaching conflict resolution in the classroom. Jamshid's efforts to build community where all kids can thrive are heroic, but it's the parents working low-paying jobs, and their first-generation American kids, who are the champions.