Home > Outreach

FILM LIBRARY: REFUGEES

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

Filmed over 23 years, The Betrayal is the Academy Award®-nominated directorial debut of renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras in a unique collaboration with the film's subject and co-director, Thavisouk ("Thavi") Phrasavath. After the U.S. government waged a secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War, Thavi's father and thousands of other Laotians who had fought alongside American forces were abandoned and left to face imprisonment or execution. Hoping to find safety, Thavi's family made a harrowing escape to America, where they discovered a different kind of war. Weaving ancient prophecy with personal testimony and stunning imagery, The Betrayal is a story of survival and the resilient bonds of family. A Diverse Voices Project co-production with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB); funded in part by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). An Official Selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film  | Visit POV Film Website

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

Good Fortune
by Landon Van Soest

Good Fortune is a provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit. In Kenya’s rural countryside, Jackson’s farm is being flooded by an American investor who hopes to alleviate poverty by creating a multimillion-dollar rice farm. Across the country in Nairobi, Silva’s home and business in Africa’s largest shantytown are being demolished as part of a U.N. slum-upgrading project. The gripping stories of two Kenyans battling to save their homes from large-scale development present a unique opportunity see foreign aid through eyes of the people it is intended to help.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film  |Visit POV Film Website

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

My Reincarnation
by Jennifer Fox

Filmed over 20 years by acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox, My Reincarnation chronicles the epic story of exiled Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and his Western-born son, Yeshi. As Namkai Norbu rises as a teacher in the West, Yeshi, recognized from birth as the reincarnation of a famed Buddhist master, breaks away to embrace the modern world. Can the father convince his son to keep the family’s spiritual legacy alive? With intimate access to both the family and H.H. The Dalai Lama, Fox distills a decades-long drama into a universal story about love, transformation and destiny. Produced in association with American Documentary | POV. (90 minutes)

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

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

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars
by Zach Niles and Banker White

If the refugee is today's tragic icon of a war-ravaged world, then Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, a reggae-inflected band born in the camps of West Africa, represents a real-life story of survival and hope. The six-member Refugee All Stars came together in Guinea after civil war forced them from their native Sierra Leone. Traumatized by physical injuries and the brutal loss of family and community, they fight back with the only means they have — music. The result, as shown in "Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars," is a tableau of tragedy transformed by the band's inspiring determination to sing and be heard. A Diverse Voices Project co-production.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

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

Sin País (Without Country)
by Theo Rigby

Winner of a 2011 Student Academy Award, Sin País (Without Country) explores one family’s complex and emotional journey involving deportation. (19 minutes)

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

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 Flute Player
by Jocelyn Glatzer

Arn Chorn-Pond was only a boy when the brutal Khmer Rouge regime overran Cambodia and turned his country into a ghastly land of "killing fields." While most of Arn's family, and 90% of the country's musicians, were killed, Arn was kept alive to play propaganda songs on the flute for his captors. Now, after living in the U.S. for 20 years, "The Flute Player" follows Arn's journey back to Cambodia as he seeks out surviving "master musicians" and faces the dark shadows of his war-torn past. An extraordinary story of survival, the film is a testament to one man's ability to transcend tragedy. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and a National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA) co-presentation.

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

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

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

Lost Boys of Sudan
by Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk

For the last 20 years, civil war has raged in Sudan, killing and displacing millions. "Lost Boys of Sudan" follows two young refugees from the Dinka tribe, Peter and Santino, through their first year in America. Along with 20,000 other boys, they lost their families and wandered hundreds of miles across the desert seeking safety. After a decade in a Kenyan refugee camp, nearly 4,000 "lost boys" have come to the U.S. As Peter and Santino set out to make new lives for themselves in Houston, their struggle asks us to rethink what it means to be an American. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.

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

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

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

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 (POV'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).

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

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

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

Well-Founded Fear
by Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini

Imagine that your life has fallen apart — maybe you've been tortured or raped, or maybe you've gotten out just in time. You'll have one chance to start a new life in the U.S., and an hour to tell your story to a neutral bureaucrat. Now imagine yourself on the other side of the desk, listening to people seeking refuge from any one of a hundred countries. The law says you can offer asylum if you find that someone has a well-founded fear of persecution. Three times a day, your job is to decide their fates. Political asylum — who deserves it? Who gets it? With unprecedented access, filmmakers Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson enter the closed corridors of the INS to reveal the dramatic real-life stage where human rights and American ideals collide with the nearly impossible task of trying to know the truth.

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

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit POV Film Website

TOP OF PAGE