Research Guides: Immigrant Heritage Month: DVDs

DVDs on Immigration

Non-Fiction
Fiction

Asian Americans
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; E184.A75 A85 2020
This five-part series traces the story of Asian Americans, spanning 150 years of immigration, racial politics, international relations, and cultural innovation. It is a timely, clear-eyed look at the vital role that Asian Americans have played in defining who we are as a nation. Their stories are a celebration of the grit and resilience of a people that reflects the experience of all Americans.
Balseros
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; E184.C97 B35 2005
The true account of seven Cuban refugees (and their families) who attempted to immigrate to America via a series of homemade rafts.
Constitution USA with Peter Sagal
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; KF4541 .C66
Breathing new life into the traditional civics lesson, Peter Sagal travels across the country on a Harley Davidson to find out where the U.S. Constitution lives, how it works and how it doesn't, how it unites us as a nation and how it has nearly torn us apart.
De Nadie
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; JV6456 .D4 2007
A documentary following Central and South American emigrants as they traverse Mexico to cross the Mexican/U.S. border legally or illegally. Follow one man as he leaves behind everything in Central America. With little sense of direction and only his family's memories as company, he faces the dangers in Mexico and tries to cross into freedom and the United States.
Destination America
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; E184.A1 D47 2005
Destination America looks at the driving forces that have compelled individuals to immigrate to America and, in particular, the immigration of women who have come to this country in search of opportunity and basic human rights denied them in their homelands.
Ellis Island
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; JV6484 .E45 1997
A look at the history of Ellis Island, the primary immigration point into the United States from 1892-1954.
Farmingville
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; F128.9.M4 F37 2004
Documentary film about the next group of immigrants, the Mexicans, that are following in our long history of immigration. It looks at the people of Farmingville, New York, and at how they are dealing with the influx of about 1,500 Mexican workers.
Frontline. Separated : children at the border
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; JV6456 .S47 2018
Examines immigration policy under both the Trump and Obama administrations, investigates the origins of zero tolerance, and reveals the journeys and voices of children who were separated from their parents.
A history of Hispanic achievement in America
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; E184.S75 H83x 2006
A History of Hispanic Achievement in America is a story that began more than 500 years ago when Christopher Columbus stepped onto the fertile shores of "the New World." It is a story rich with the stunning achievements, heroic exploits, ceaseless courage and the remarkable discoveries of Hispanic immigrants from all over the world. From the American Revolutionary War to the War in Iraq, Hispanic Americans have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Hispanics have contributed to the expansion West, and to advancements in medicine, science, politics, sports, entertainment, journalism, education, civil rights and all facets of American society.
The Italian Americans
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; E184.I8 I83 2015
Through extensive archival materials and interviews with scholars and notable Italian-Americans, viewers will learn the story of those who played vital roles in helping to shape a unique Italian-American identity.
Out of Ireland: the story of Irish immigration to America
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; E184.I6 O883 1997
Examines the history of the seven million Irish who emigrated to America in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries including the causes of the exodus and the immigrant experience in the United States. Uses photographs, archival footage, manuscript material and interviews with Irish immigrants to describe their experiences and the profound influence they have had on American culture.
The state of Arizona
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; JV6912 .S73 2014
The State of Arizona captures the explosive emotions and complex realities behind Arizona's headline-grabbing struggle with illegal immigration. From ground zero of the nation's immigration debate, the film follows Arizona's controversial "show me your papers" law through the stories of Arizonans on all sides of this divisive issue -- from those who wrote it, to those who supported it, to those who dreaded its wrath. Personal stories capture the explosive emotions and tragic tolls behind Arizona's struggle with illegal immigration.
Who is Dayani Cristal?
Call Number: DVD Non-Fiction ; JV6483 .W46 2014
Tells the story of a migrant who found himself in the deadly stretch of the Sonora Desert known as "the corridor of death," and shows how one life becomes testimony to the tragic results of the U.S. war on immigration. As the real-life drama unfolds we see this John Doe, unidentifiable at his point of death, become a living and breathing human being with an important life story. Eventually, the authorities are able to identify the man as a 29 year-old Honduran, Dilcy Yohan Sandres-Martinez, who had a tattoo of his daughter's name on his chest. Gael García Bernal and Marc Silver then recreate the dangerous journey that Sandres-Martinez took in his attempt to enter the United States.

Bread and Roses
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; BREA
Maya is an illegal alien who has crossed the U.S. border from Mexico to search for her sister Rosa, and to begin a new life. After being reunited, Rosa gets Maya a job with a janitorial service in a large office building. While working, Maya happens upon Sam Shapiro, a muckraking lawyer and union agitator whom the service-workers' union has assigned to bring its "justice for janitors" campaign to the building. Appalled at the work conditions and unfair labor practices, Maya and Sam team up to fight her employer.
El Norte = The North
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; NORT
El norte: Enrique and Rosa are brother and sister Mayan Indian peasants, living in the mountains of Guatemala. When the village attempts to organize for better treatment, Enrique and Rosa are forced to flee as the Guatemalan army is sent in to punish the townspeople. Receiving clandestine help from friends and humorous advice from a veteran immigrant, they make their way to Los Angeles, hoping to make a new life as young, uneducated, and illegal immigrants.
Frontera
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; FRON
Set along the tumultuous Arizona-Mexico border, follows Miguel, a hardworking father and devoted husband who crosses the border illegally and is wrongfully accused of murdering the wife of a former sheriff. Miguel's pregnant wife lands in the hands of corrupt Mexican "Coyote" smugglers as she tries to help her husband, while the ex-lawman investigates his wife's death and unearths evidence that could destroy one family's future.
Guten Tag, Ramon
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; GUTE
Ramón is a young Mexican who, after unsuccessfully attempting to cross the border into the United States, decides instead to go to Germany to seek the aunt of a friend who can give him work. But he is unable to find the aunt and so, stranded without money or papers, and speaking only Spanish, he is forced to live on the streets until he meets Ruth, a lonely retiree, who offers to help him. Despite speaking different languages, Ramón and Ruth manage to communicate and to develop a friendship.
In America
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; IN
An Irish couple bring their two young daughters to America in search of a better life. Christy and her sister, Ariel, find New York's Hell's Kitchen a place of magic where anything is possible. To their parents, it represents a place to begin anew. Carried by the girls' youthful hope and faith, the family finds the heart to live and love again.
La Misma Luna
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; UNDE
Tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while Rosario's mother cares for Carlitos in Mexico. Mother and son face daunting challenges and obstacles to reunite, but are sustained by their constant hope of finally being together again.
Nuovomondo = Golden door
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; GOLD
Introduction by Martin Scorsese -- Opening titles / the climb -- The Mancusos get a sign -- Preparing to leave -- Final farewells -- Pre-boarding preparations -- Boarding the Dante -- A proposition -- Watching Miss Lucy -- After rough seas -- The immigration process -- Medical exams -- More tests -- Brides to be -- Salvatore gets engaged -- Fortunata makes a decision -- River of milk / end credits.
Persepolis
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; PERS
In 1970s Iran, Marjane "Marji" Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family. Their long dream is realized when the hated Shah is defeated in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, Marji grows up to witness first hand how the new Iran has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study. This change proves an equally difficult trial for Marji as she finds herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and her homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs.
Sin Nombre = No Name
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; SIN
A teenage Honduran girl forms an unlikely friendship with a Mexican gang member who is helping her to smuggle her family into the United States.
The three burials of Melquiades Estrada
Call Number: DVD Fiction ; THRE
Needing to keep his honor-bound commitment, Texas ranch foreman Pete returns the body of illegal Mexican immigrant ranch-hand Melquiades Estrada to his preferred resting place in the Mexican wilderness. Estrada had been accidentally shot by Mike, a newly-arrived U.S. border patrolman. Pete forces Mike to participate in his cross-country ritual of duty -- a voyage filled with revenge and redemption that will change both men forever -- and bring some semblance of meaning to the senseless death of Pete's good friend.