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FILM LIBRARY: IMMIGRATION

Al Otro Lado (To the Other Side)
by Natalia Almada

The proud Mexican tradition of corrido music — captured in the performances of Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte and the late Chalino Sanchez — provides both heartbeat and backbone to this rich examination of songs, drugs and dreams along the U.S./Mexico border. "Al Otro Lado" follows Magdiel, an aspiring corrido composer from the drug capital of Mexico, as he faces two difficult choices to better his life: to traffic drugs or to cross the border illegally into the United States. An Official Selection of the Tribeca Film Festival.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández
by Kieran Fitzgerald

In 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border as part of the War on Drugs shot and killed Esequiel Hernández Jr. Mistaken for a drug runner, the 18-year-old was, in fact, a U.S. citizen tending his family's goats with a .22 rifle. He became the first American killed by U.S. military forces on native soil since the 1970 Kent State shootings. "The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández," narrated by Tommy Lee Jones, explores Hernandez's tragic death and its torturous aftermath. His parents and friends, the Marines on patrol, and investigators discuss the dangers of militarizing the border and the death of one young man. A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting. An official selection of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Bronx Princess
by Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed

Rocky Otoo is the Bronx-bred teenage daughter of Ghanaian parents, and she's no pushover. She is a sassy high-achiever bound for college. With freedom in sight, Rocky rebels against her mother's rules. When their relationship reaches a breaking point, Rocky flees to her father, a chief in Ghana. What follows is captured in Bronx Princess, a tumultuous coming-of-age story set in a homeland both familiar and strange. Her precocious — and very American — ideas of a successful, independent life conflict with her father's traditional African values. Reconciling her dual legacies becomes an unexpected chapter in this unforgettable young woman's education. A co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Calavera Highway
by Renee Tajima-Peña and Evangeline Griego

When brothers Armando and Carlos Pena set off to carry their mother's ashes to south Texas, their road trip turns into a quest for answers about a strangely veiled past. As they reunite with five other brothers, the two men try to piece together their family's shattered history. Why was their mother cast out by her family? What happened to their father, who disappeared during the notorious 1954 U.S. deportation program Operation Wetback? "Calavera Highway" is a sweeping story of seven Mexican American men grappling with the meaning of masculinity, fatherhood and a legacy of rootless beginnings. Produced in association with American Documentary | P.O.V. A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting. Funded in part by the Center for Asian American Media with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Farmingville
by Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini

The shocking hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers catapult a small Long Island town into national headlines, unmasking a new front line in the border wars: suburbia. For nearly a year, Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini lived and worked in Farmingville, New York, so they could capture first-hand the stories of residents, day laborers and activists on all sides of the debate. This timely and powerful film is more than a story about illegal immigration. Ultimately it challenges viewers to ask what the 'American dream' really means. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) co-presentation. An Active Voice selection. A 2004 Election Issue Special. This film is only available in our free lending library for Youth Views screenings.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

Made in L.A.
by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar

"Made in L.A." follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. In intimate verité style, "Made in L.A." reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman's life as they are gradually transformed by the experience. Compelling, humorous, deeply human, "Made in L.A." is a story about immigration, the power of unity and the courage it takes to find your voice. A co-production with the Independent Television Service (ITVS). A Diverse Voices Project co-production. A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting.

Winner of the 2008 News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story — Long Form

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

My American Girls: A Dominican Story
by Aaron Matthews

In vivid verité detail, My American Girls captures the joys and struggles in a year of the lives of the Ortiz family, first-generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Matthews' funny and touching film captures the rewards and costs of pursuing the American dream. From hard-working parents who imagine retiring to their rural homeland to their American-born daughters caught between their parent's values and their own, the film encompasses the contradictions of contemporary immigrant life.

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Rain in a Dry Land
by Anne Makepeace

How do you measure the distance from an African village to an American city? What does it mean to be a refugee in today's "global village?" "Rain in a Dry Land" provides eye-opening answers as it chronicles the fortunes of two Somali Bantu families, transported by relief agencies from years of civil war and refugee life to Atlanta and Springfield, Massachusetts. As the newcomers confront racism, poverty and 21st-century culture shock, the filmmaker Anne Makepeace (P.O.V.'s "Baby, It's You") captures their efforts to survive in America and create a safe haven for their war-torn families. Their poetry, humor and amazing resilience show us our own world through new eyes. A co-production with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

FILMS FROM THE ARCHIVE

Films that are currently unavailable in our free lending library but that we recommend for group and classroom screenings.

The Brooklyn Connection
by Klaartje Quirijns

It's common knowledge that buying weapons in the United States is surprisingly easy. But what about outfitting a foreign guerilla army? Meet Florin Krasniqi, one of the driving forces behind Kosovo's fight for independence. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he runs a successful roofing company. But he is leading a double life. "The Brooklyn Connection," based on material from Stacy Sullivan's book, Be Not Afraid, For You Have Sons in America, shows the terrifying ease with which this charming businessman raised $30 million during the Kosovo War, purchased weapons across the USA, and shipped them legally to Albania to be smuggled into Kosovo. The war ended in 1999, but Krasniqi warns that there could be another struggle — with arms provided by this Brooklyn roofer.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

Discovering Dominga
by Patricia Flynn with Mary Jo McConahay

When 29-year-old Iowa housewife Denese Becker decides to return to the Guatemalan village where she was born, she begins a journey towards finding her roots, but one filled with harrowing revelations. Denese, born Dominga, was nine when she became her family's sole survivor of a massacre of Maya peasants. Two years later, she was adopted by an American family. In "Discovering Dominga," Denese's journey home is both a voyage of self-discovery and a political awakening, bearing searing testimony to a hemispheric tragedy and a shameful political crime. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) co-presentation. An Active Voice Selection.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Escuela
by Hannah Weyer

A moving follow-up to P.O.V.'s "La Boda (The Wedding)", the saga of the Luis family continues as Liliana and Elizabeth, two of the Luis family daughters, try to make their way in 21st century America. For Liliana who begins her freshman year in high school, this means dealing with the harsh demands of work in the fields, constant travel and endlessly changing schools, classes and friends as she migrates with her farm-worker family between California, Texas and Mexico. For Elizabeth, a limited education and the struggle to secure citizenship for her husband combine to create an uncertain economic outlook. In this compassionate portrait, Escuela continues the story of one Mexican-American family's drive towards a better future.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust
by Oren Rudavsky and Menachem Daum

Is it possible to heal wounds and bitterness passed down through generations? An Orthodox Jewish father tries to alert his adult sons to the dangers of creating impenetrable barriers between themselves and those outside their faith. He takes them on an emotional journey to Poland to track down the family who risked their lives to hide their grandfather for more than two years during World War II. Like many children of survivors, the sons feel that Poland is a country that is incurably anti-Semitic, but it is precisely here that they meet people who personify the highest levels of compassion. "Hiding and Seeking" explores the Holocaust's effect on faith in God as well as faith in our fellow human beings. A co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

The Hobart Shakespeareans
by Mel Stuart

Teacher Rafe Esquith has a point of view — a very strong one — about educating children of immigrants. Teaching in Los Angeles at one of the nation's largest inner-city grade schools, Hobart Elementary, Esquith leads his class of fifth graders through an uncompromising curriculum of English, mathematics, geography and literature. He inspires them with cross-country trips to learn history first-hand. And at the end of the semester, every student performs in a full-length Shakespeare play: in this case Hamlet, with advice from actors Ian McKellen and Michael York. Despite language barriers and poverty, these Hobart Shakespeareans move on to attend outstanding colleges, motivated by a teacher honored with a National Medal of Arts. A co-presentation with Thirteen/WNET New York.

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Downloadable materials:
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Maquilapolis [city of factories]
by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre

Just over the border in Mexico is an area peppered with maquiladoras: massive factories often owned by the world's largest multinational corporations. Carmen and Lourdes work at maquiladoras in Tijuana, where each day they confront labor violations, environmental devastation and urban chaos. In this lyrical documentary, the women reach beyond the daily struggle for survival to organize for change, taking on both the Mexican and U.S. governments and a major television manufacturer. A co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

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Downloadable materials:
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Señorita Extraviada
by Lourdes Portillo

Someone is killing the young women of Juárez, Mexico. Since 1993, over 270 young women have been raped and murdered in a chillingly consistent and brazen manner. Authorities ignore pleas for justice from the victims' families and the crimes go unpunished. Most disturbingly, evidence of government complicity remains uninvestigated as the killings continue to this day. Crafting a film that is both a poetic meditation and a mystery, "Señorita Extraviada" is a haunting investigation into an unspeakable crime wave amid the disorders and corruption of one of the biggest border towns in the world. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) Co-Presentation.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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The Sixth Section
by Alex Rivera

"The Sixth Section" opens a surprising window on immigration in the twenty-first century. Following a group of Mexican immigrants from the tiny desert town of Boqueron who now work in upstate New York, the film documents their struggle to support themselves — and their hometown 2000 miles to the south. To do this, the men form a 'union' that raises money in the form of weekly donations of $10 or $20 from each of its members in New York. In the past few years the group has brought electricity, an ambulance and, most dramatically, a 2,000-seat baseball stadium to Boqueron. "The Sixth Section" is an intimate portrait of how 'The American Dream' is being redefined by today's immigrants. A Diverse Voices Project Selection.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

Soldados: Chicanos in Viet Nam
by Charley Trujillo and Sonya Rhee

Based on the 1991 American Book Award winner of the same name, Viet Nam War veteran Charley Trujillo and producer Sonya Rhee's "Soldados: Chicanos in Viet Nam" is the first documentary to recount the harrowing experience of a generation of Mexican-American boys who fought in Viet Nam. Raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California, their first journey away from their rural hometown was to the war-torn rice paddies of Viet Nam. Profoundly changed by the experience, the soldados returned with a new conception of themselves and their country — and of the particular challenges facing them as Chicanos. A Diverse Voices Project Selection.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List

Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela
by Thomas Allen Harris

In the wake of his stepfather’s death, Thomas Allen Harris embarks on a journey of reconciliation with the man who raised him as a son but whom he could never call "father." As part of the first wave of black South African exiles, Harris’s stepfather, B. Pule Leinaeng, and his 11 comrades left their home in Bloemfontein in 1960. They told the world about the brutality of the apartheid system and raised support for the fledgling African National Congress and its leader, Nelson Mandela. Drawing upon the memories of the surviving disciples and their families, "Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela" tells an intimate story of family and home against the backdrop of a global movement for freedom. A co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS), in association with P.O.V./American Documentary and the National Black Programming Consortium.

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Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

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