America Becoming

Football And Immigration, 100 Years Of Common History

January 2014 •French

Football is both the place, the crystallization of sporting passion and the witness of identity imaginations. It is also an interesting and relevant area for discussing the migration issue. From the 1930s to the present day, football, notably with the composition of the French team, has reflected the plurality of the French population. Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, Basile Boli... these four footballers alone illustrate the four major waves of immigration that France has experienced.

De Charles de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron, les gardiens de l'empire

March 2022 •French

Who Gets In?

January 1989 •English

This documentary explores the many questions raised by Canada's immigration policy in the face of one of the world's largest immigration movements. Shot in 1988 in Africa, Canada and Hong Kong, the film reveals first-hand what Canadian immigration officials are looking for in potential new Canadians, and the economic, social and political priorities orienting their choices.

The Freedom of the Sea

January 2025 •English

The Freedom of the Sea is a short documentary highlighting the freedom of living in the UK - in contrast to a more restrictive life in Iran - through the joy of daily sea swimming in Brighton.

Children of Islam

August 2006 •English

Three boys and three girls. All born in the Middle East now living in Sweden. All with different views of Islam, integration, the World and Sweden. Some follow Sharia. Others fight Islamic roles. One is a hip hopper. The other thinks music is a sin. One thinks that the woman must obey her husband. One fights for women’s liberation. One girl is a boxer. The other is an ordinary worker. Some are closely followed by the Security Police. Children of Islam is a documentary about religion, culture, conflicts and looking for an identity in a changing Sweden.

Elsewhere, Everywhere

December 2021 •French

A computer screen, images from the four corners of the world. We cross borders in one-click while another trip’s story reach us in bits, through text messages, chats, phone conversations, and an immigration office’s questionnaire. It’s the journey of Shahin, a 20-year-old Iranian boy who, fleeing his country alone, lands in Greece, then winds his way to England where he claims asylum.

Rivers of Blood: 50 Years On

April 2018 •English

An exploration of immigration in Britain over the half century since Conservative MP Enoch Powell made his controversial speech. Issues surrounding race, religion, integration and multiculturalism are examined.

La seconda patria - Another Homeland

July 2019 •Italian

Visions of Europe

May 2004 •English

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

My Life in China

November 2014 •Chinese

In America, everyone has a family story of immigration. Every family, at some point, has had somebody leave their native country behind to search for a better life. How did they hold onto their identity? How did they adapt to their new life? Every family has a special story. In my case, it's my Chinese-American story. My father would always tell us his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on my deaf ears until I returned to China with him.

Someone Like Me

April 2021 •English

After 11 strangers unite to help a gay youth escape life-threatening violence in Uganda, the unexpected pandemic and conflicting opinions over his best interests test the limits of their commitment and jeopardize his fresh start in Canada.

Brief Tender Light

January 2024 •English

At America's elite MIT, a Ghanaian alum follows four African students as they strive to graduate and become agents of change for their home countries Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Over an intimate, nearly decade-long journey, all must decide how much of America to absorb, how much of Africa to hold on to, and how to reconcile teenage ideals with the truths they discover about the world and themselves.

Ma famille entre deux terres

June 2015 •French

Bring Out a Briton

January 1957 •English

‘Bring Out a Briton’ was a short appeal for Australians to help the Immigration Department in its plan to form and assist a ‘Bring Out a Briton’ Committee in each district. It featured popular Australian actor Chips Rafferty as the spokesman for the campaign. Aimed at the Australian public rather than the prospective immigrants it was designed to allay a perceived anxiety amongst the public about non-British European migration.

Renaître

May 2021 •French

Canada as a refuge for LBGTQ+ immigrants: Yazan from Iraq, Nata from Central Africa, Aida from Iran and Eilyn from Colombia all had to flee their homelands, where violence, threats, hate and rejection prevented them from living their lives and expressing their sexual orientation openly. All they wanted was to be free. From Beirut to Montreal, Quebec City or Vancouver, this ensemble documentary follows the journeys of four people who are determined to change their future. From the terrifying realities they had to flee to the heartbreaking sacrifices they were forced to make, Renaître is a vibrant and luminous tribute to their quiet strength.

Ion

July 2013 •French

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.

Récits d'une jeunesse exilée - J'ai marché jusqu'à vous

October 2016 •French

A Thousand Pines

September 2023 •English

In this tale of labor and family that shines a light on the precarity of temporary work visas, Raymundo Morales leads a crew of workers who have to make the challenging decision to leave their families in rural Mexico to plant commercial pine forests in the United States.

Out of Ireland

June 1995 •English

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.

Ten Pound Poms

April 1997 •English

In 1947, the Assisted Passage Scheme began, devised by the Australian government to bring in white British settlers. For just 10 pounds, they could start a new life in a sun-drenched land of opportunity, and over the next 25 years, more than a million people took up the offer. The scheme's pioneers tell their story.