This intimate and personal documentary follows two women from Ciudad Juárez as they cross the U.S.-Mexico border legally to give birth in Texas, putting their hearts and bodies on the line as they confront harassment at the hands of U.S. border officials. One million people legally cross the U.S.-Mexico border every day in both directions. Among them are women who cross for the purposes of childbirth. With the threat of obstetrical violence in Mexican...

Indira, a Cuban actress, succeeded in fleeing to the USA but her emigration had its consequences on her family. In Santa Clara (Cuba) she left 11-year-old son Leandro and other members of her numerous family. Settled now in New Jersey, Indira struggles to adapt to cold weather, the different mentality and a completely new social system. As her "American Dream" turns to an "American Nightmare", her son Leandro is waiting in Santa Clara for her to settle...

"In 2006, Shadid, an Arab-American raised in Oklahoma, was covering Israel's attack on Lebanon when he heard that an Israeli rocket had crashed into the house his great-grandfather built, his family's ancestral home. Not long after, Shadid (who had covered three wars in the Middle East) realized that he had lost his passion for a region that had lost its soul. He had seen too much violence and death; his career had destroyed his marriage. Seeking...

Abd is a 24-year-old Syrian who took part in the early days of the 2011 revolution and now lives in Padova, Italy. Together with his German friend Max he is working on a film called UNWRITTEN LETTERS. As they work together on turning Abd’s reality in Italy into a film, Abd revisits his past and explores possible futures. The film documents the story of a young Syrian man arriving in Europe and the process of making sense of who he is through film...

Since the age of 4, Angy Rivera has lived in the United States with a secret that threatens to upend her life: She is undocumented. Angy arrived with her mother, fleeing violence, poverty, and civil war in their native Colombia. For 20 years they live in the shadows, struggling to stay afloat financially and avoid deportation while battling a complex and inequitable immigration system. DON'T TELL ANYONE is a phrase whispered often and branded deeply...

This short documentary follows several refugee families during their first 19 days in Canada, as they navigate an unfamiliar terrain that has suddenly become their home. During the 19-day timeline established by the federal government, an initial assessment is done and refugees are assisted with everything from airport reception and orientation to referrals, documents, and counseling. 19 DAYS reveals the human side of the refugee resettlement process....

A decorated Marine veteran fights to reunite her family after her undocumented husband is deported. With Independent Lens and Voces, David Sutherland weaves a parallel love and immigration story set in a world often lived in the shadows.

The Caretaker and The Mayor are two powerful short films that explore contemporary immigration issues in the U.S. through intimate portraits of relationships between recent immigrants, and those who came to the U.S. generations ago. The Caretaker is a short film about the relationship between an immigrant caretaker and an elderly woman in the last months of her life. Joesy, a Fijian immigrant, works long hours providing live-in care for 95-year-old...

Inge is a feisty German mail-order bride who has come to Minnesota to marry Olaf, a young Norwegian immigrant farmer of few words. But in a post-WWI, anti-German climate, the local minister openly forbids the marriage. Inge and Olaf fall in love despite the town's disapproval. But when the town banker attempts to foreclose on the farm of his friend Frandsen, Olaf takes a stand.

"Six-and-a-half-year-old Peter reads, dreams, and plays with his friends. He is a nascent explorer, artist, philosopher, mystic, and scientist...And the actual world around him is a unique one in history: a community of leftist emigrés who have found refuge in Mexico from the Nazi and fascist regimes of Europe...But the emigrés long for home...slowly, Peter begins to comprehend that his world may be turned upside down"--