Dataset: Fiction Film

This dataset focuses on films conveying the stories of migrants and migration. The entries gather film titles, reviews, and analyses, exploring the politics of representation, film histories, and the cinematic visualities of migration. 

Entries

Fiction Film: Sleep Dealer (2008)

November 26, 2024

Alex Rivera provides a poignant commentary on labor, ecology, racial capitalism, and imperial infrastructure in his futuristic, science fiction film Sleep Dealer. The film is… Read more

Documentary Film: Foragers (2022)

October 25, 2024

Directed and produced by Jumana Manna, Foragers incorporates documentary, fiction, and archival footage to display the impact of Zionist migration to, and occupation of, Palestine.… Read more

Limbo (2020)

November 15, 2021

A gently emotional story about a group of asylum seekers awaiting for their results on a fictional remote Scottish island. Among them is Omar, a… Read more

Stranger in paradise (2016)

November 15, 2021

Directed by Guido Hendrikx, Stranger in Paradise is a mixture of fiction and documentary that depicts an actor in a classroom of a detention center… Read more

Minari (2020)

November 15, 2021

MINARI by Lee Isaac Chung, USA 2020: A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the… Read more

Migration and the Culture of Anguish

April 7, 2016

By Sumita Chakravarty Lotte’s mother: How did you know it was me? Nejat Aksu: You are the saddest person here. In his film, The Edge… Read more

Mediterranea (2015)

March 30, 2016

MEDITERRANEA by Jonas Carpignano, USA 2015: Ayiva recently left his home in Burkina Faso in search of a way to provide for his sister and… Read more

Entre Nos (2010)

December 15, 2015

“Entre Nos is a bio/true story about a woman’s struggle to survive in New York City with her two children after being abandoned by her… Read more

Review of In America (2002)

December 15, 2015

“”In America” is not literally autobiographical (the real Frankie was Sheridan’s brother, who died at 10), but it is intensely personal. It’s not the typical… Read more

I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (2007)

October 20, 2015

Forest fires burn in Sumatra; a smoke covers Kuala Lumpur. Grifters beat an immigrant day laborer and leave him on the streets. Rawang, a young… Read more

Interactive learning resource: Language of Belonging (2010)

October 20, 2015

Language of Belonging is a multi-platform education resource based on the ground breaking Indigenous animation Wadu Matyidi.  Designed specifically for Primary-aged students, this diverse learning program explores… Read more

List of Films on Migration

October 19, 2015

LIST OF FILMS ON MIGRATION  The Undocumented In the middle Farmingville I learn America The State of Arizona Your day is my Night Eternity and… Read more

Top 10 Films on Immigration

October 19, 2015

Immigration is one of the more complicated issues facing Americans these days and sadly we don’t see or hear about it very often. Below is… Read more

Lilja 4-ever (2002)

March 17, 2015

Lilja 4-ever (2002)Lilja 4-ever is a 2002 Swedish-Danish drama film directed by Lukas Moodysson. Lilja 4-ever is an unremittingly brutal and realistic story of the… Read more

No Fear, No Die (1990)

March 17, 2015

No Fear, No Die (1990) Working from a script co-authored by Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau, No Fear, No Die directly confronts the personal politics of… Read more

Black Girl (1966)

March 17, 2015

Black Girl (1966) “Black Girl is a 1966 film by the Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène, starring Mbissine Thérèse Diop. Its original French title… Read more

Death by Hanging (1968)

March 17, 2015

A clinically presented series of stark white, unembellished placards illustrates the sobering statistical data for the overwhelming public sentiment against the abolition of the death… Read more

The Silence of Lorna (2008)

March 17, 2015

The Silence of Lorna (2008) Sokol and Lorna, two Albanian emigrants in Belgium, dream of leaving their dreary jobs to set up a snack bar.… Read more

La promesse (1996)

March 17, 2015

La promesse is the breakthrough feature from Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, who would go on to become a force in world filmmaking. The brothers brought… Read more

The Undocumented (2013)

March 17, 2015

The Undocumented (2013)  Marcos Hernandez lives and works in Chicago. He came to the United States from Mexico, after a life-threatening border crossing through the… Read more

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

February 13, 2015

Stranger Than Paradise (1984) Rootless Hungarian immigrant Willie (John Lurie), his pal Eddie (Richard Edson), and visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) always manage to… Read more

The House of Sand and Fog (2003)

February 13, 2015

The House of Sand and Fog (2003) Academy Award winners Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) deliver stunning performances as two strangers… Read more

The Godfather Part II (1974)

February 13, 2015

The Godfather Part II (1974) Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone–the patriarch of Mario… Read more

Fast Food Nation (2006)

February 13, 2015

Fast Food Nation (2006) Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear)-a marketing executive at Mickey’s Fast Food Restaurant chain, home of “The Big One”-has a problem. Contaminated meat… Read more

In Between Days (2007)

February 13, 2015

In Between Days (2007) A quiet specimen of personal storytelling at its most exciting, In Between Days intimately portrays the joys and risks of first love and… Read more

Man Push Cart (2005)

February 13, 2015

Man Push Cart (2005) Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a former rock star in his native Pakistan, drags his heavy cart along the… Read more