WHICH WAY HOME

Title: WHICH WAY HOME
Description: A heart-wrenching exploration of a lesser-known dimension of Central American migration to the United States. Every year tens of thousands of unaccompanied children, attempt to migrate through Mexico to the United States. Some as young as nine years old, these children ride atop the roofs of Mexican freight trains in hopes of getting to the United States. This film centers on the experiences of two teenagers from Honduras, Kevin and Fito, following them as they make their way north. The film explores their experiences undertaking a journey that is harrowing even for the most resourceful of adults. Interviews with migrant children,immigration officials, and parents back home reveal the myriad dangers these children face and their determination to brave these dangers in hopes of obtaining a better life.
Subject: Migration/Immigration, Latinos/Chicanos, Social Issues
Type: Documentary
Year: 2009
Director: Rebecca Cammisa
Country: Central America/Mexico/United States
Film ID: 700
Comments:
Created: 5/13/2010
Copy: 1   Format: DVD-R   Language: English and Spanish   Subtitles: English   Length: 90 minutes   Copy ID: 1362   Comments:    Source:    Price: 0   Acquired: 4/7/2011

THOSE I LEFT BEHIND

Title: THOSE I LEFT BEHIND
Description: Those I Left Behind is a documentary that explores the transnational ties that bind Cuban-Americans in the United States to their families still living on the Island. The film also speaks to the controversial travel restrictions enacted by the U.S Government and the emotional impact on the lives of four Cuban families.
Subject: Migration/Immigration, Social Issues, Culture/Festivals/Food
Type: Documentary
Year: 2006
Director: lisandro Perez-Rey
Country: U.S / Cuba
Film ID: 770
Comments:
Created: 2/10/2012
Copy: 1m   Format: DVD   Language: english and spanish   Subtitles:    Length: 45 minutes   Copy ID: 1402   Comments: master copy for classroom use only   Source: Gato Films   Price: 0   Acquired: 9/9/9999

HARVEST OF LONELINESS

Title: HARVEST OF LONELINESS
Description: In today’s weak economy, current immigration laws in different states of the country show hostility towards undocumented immigrants. This was not the case during and after World War II where the United States was in need of laborers who would work the fields of California and other states. This documentary explores the Bracero Program, and immigration reform that sought Mexican workers for temporal guest workers. These workers could not join unions, strike, or seek redress of their grievances, making them vulnearable for exploitation. The program was supposed to boost the economies of both countries, but Mexican wives and children were left behind as husbands traveled north in search of the American Dream. The documentary shows how the main reason for the program was to provide cheap labor without regard for the Mexican families. 58 minutes
Subject: Latinos/Chicanos, Social Issues, Migration/Immigration
Type: Documentary
Year: 2010
Director: Gilbert Gonzalez
Country: US/Mexico
Film ID: 750
Comments: Master Copy: Classroom use only
Created: 10/17/2011
Copy: M   Format: DVD   Language: English   Subtitles: Spanish   Length: 56 Minutes   Copy ID: 1385   Comments: For classroom use only   Source:    Price: 0   Acquired: 9/9/9999

GRINGO NEXT DOOR

Title: GRINGO NEXT DOOR
Description: When Jack sees that his chickens are missing, he turns on the only people he thinks to blame – his Hispanic neighbors. The solution? Hire immigrant labor to build a wall between the two homes. A hilarious web of miscommunication ensues in this humorous satire. This short film was shot by UNC-CH students in Pittsboro, NC.
Type:
Year: 2009
Director: Habib Yazdi
Country:
Film ID: 784
Comments:
Created: 5/4/2012
Copy: 1   Format: DVD   Language: English and Spanish   Subtitles: English   Length: 15 minutes   Copy ID: 1412   Comments: donated by Habib Yadzi , contact Seana Monley for extra copies .   Source:    Price: 0   Acquired: 9/9/9999

BROTHER TOWNS

Title: BROTHER TOWNS
Description: Brother Towns/Pueblos Hermanos describes the lives of immigrants from Jacaltenango, Guatemala who currently work and reside in Jupiter, Florida. The documentary explores the motives of migration to the United States and the hardships that the Mayan descendants of Jacaltenango face either in Guatemala or in the United States. The documentary also includes the voices of those who have responded to undocumented immigration: those who adamantly oppose it and also the advocates who help migrants acclimate to a new place.”
Subject: Migration/Immigration
Type: Documentary
Year: 2010
Director: Charles Thompson and Michael Davey
Country:
Film ID: 760
Comments:
Created: 1/13/2012
Copy: 1 m   Format: DVD   Language:    Subtitles:    Length: 58 minutes   Copy ID: 1393   Comments: master copy for classroom use only   Source:    Price: 0   Acquired: 9/9/9999

BAJO EL TACANA

Title: BAJO EL TACANA
Description: Bajo el Tecana is a short documentary about a group of women migrants, who are interviewed by a group of researchers, before heading to the north. The film takes place in the village of Soconusco, Chiapas on the border between Guatemala and Mexico. Made with the support from Mexican Commission on Human Rights and the OIM ( International Organization for Migration), this film combines text, testimonials and images.
Subject: Border, Migration/Immigration
Type: Documentary
Year: 2007
Director: Isabel Vericat
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 781
Comments:
Created: 4/10/2012
Copy: m   Format: DVD   Language: SPANISH   Subtitles: English   Length: 26 MINUTES   Copy ID: 1408   Comments: master copy for classroom use only   Source:    Price: 0   Acquired: 9/9/9999

AL OTRO LADO

Title: AL OTRO LADO
Description: An aspiring corrido composer from the drug capital of Mexico faces two choices to better his life: to traffic drugs or to cross the border illegally into the United States. From Sinaloa, Mexico, to the streets of South Central and East L.A., Al Otro Lado explores the world of drug smuggling, illegal immigration, and the corrido music that chronicles it all. Description from producer.
Subject: Migration/Immigration, Border, Economics/Development, Latinos/Chicanos
Type: Documentary
Year: 2005
Director: Natalia Almada
Country: Mexico
Film ID: 743
Comments:
Created: 4/4/2011
Copy: 1   Format: DVD   Language: Spanish   Subtitles: English   Length:    Copy ID: 1384   Comments:    Source:    Price: 0   Acquired: 9/9/9999
Copy: M   Format: DVD-R   Language: Spanish   Subtitles: English   Length:    Copy ID: 1386   Comments:    Source:    Price: 0   Acquired: 9/9/9999

THE GUESTWORKER

The Guestworker tells the story of Don Candelario “Don Cande” Gonzales Moreno, a 66-year old farmer from Durango, Mexico.  He has been coming to the United States in a regular basis to work the tobacco and other agricultural fields since the 1960s.  The film also portrays the owners of Wester Farms in North Carolina, the employers who use men like Don Cande to work their fields.  The owners see in Don Cande a hard-working, committed man who comes back every year through the H2A Guest Worker program.  Conditions in the farm are not optimal, for sometimes the men go for weeks without work due to either drought or rain.  The employers provide money for groceries and homes that may or not be adequate.

Length: 53 Minutes

 

LOST SOULS

Description: Follow filmmaker Monika Navarro on her eight-year journey to understand the tragedy and triumph of her family history – a history of immigration and deportation, substance abuse and absent fathers, old patterns and new beginnings. In this touching account, Monika manages to pain of her own father’s neglect by reconnecting with her Uncle Augie, a drug addict and distant father who had been deported to Mexico and was trying to forge a new life in the wake of his brother’s tragic heroin overdose. Taking viewers from San Diego to Guadalajara, to Tijuana and back again, Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) demonstrates the complex struggle drug addicts and their loved ones must endure, and the importance of forgiveness and support in breaking the generational cycle of substance abuse.

Copies: 1 (DVD master) – For classroom use only

FOR GOODNESS SAKE: WHY AMERICA NEEDS IMMIGRATION REFORM

In February 2011, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted His Eminence Cardinal Roger Mahony. Cardinal Mahony heads the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, the 5-million member Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which is 70% Latino. In his presentation Mahony drew on scriptural and Catholic social justice doctrine in his call for immigration reform legislation. Also included with this film is selection of interviews with children of undocumented immigrants provided by Cardinal Mahony, as well as a public Q & A following the lecture.

Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 61 minutes

CINDERELAS, LOBOS, E PRINCIPE ENCANTADO

Description: A documentary about the Brazilian sex trade, Cinderelas, Lobos, e Principe Encantado explores how poor Brazilian women, mostly black, are lured by middle-aged European men into traveling to Europe with them. European, American, or Canadian men feel that European, American, or Canadian women are too cold and unsensible while the Brazilian women look for the security and freedom that Brazilian men cannot provide. The documentary interviews Brazilian women who were previously sex workers and have now moved to Europe with white men.

Copies: 1 (DVD)
Length: 106 Minutes

BUSCÁNDOTE HABANA

Description: “Looking For You, Havana” is a documentary that follows a group of undocumented Cubans from the eastern province of Oriente looking for a better life in Havana. Without proper documents allowing them to legally live there, they often set up a home in areas close to the city, building with whatever they can get their hands on–wood, cardboard, sheet metal. These shantytowns, called fanguitos, are similar to Brazil’s favelas. Quite often lacking running water and electricity, without proper papers residents are not entitled to medical care or education and, if caught, are deported back to their province

Copies: 1 (DVD)

Length: 30 minutes

LOS QUE SE QUEDAN

Description: An award-winning and discerning depiction of the impact of migration on Mexican families and villages left behind by loved ones who have traveled north for work.

Copies: 1 (DVD)

Length: 96 Minutes

AMERICAS: PART 10

Description: “The Americans” The Americans return to the United States to profile California’s Mexican-American population and the Latin American and Caribbean communities of Miami and New York City. This final episode poses questions about assimilation, national identity and how these communities are changing what it means to be an American.

Copies: 1 (VHS)

Length: 60 minutes

AMERICAS: PART 3

Description: “Continent on the Move” This program examines the causes and effects of one of the most important forces transforming the Americas: the migration of vast numbers of people within the region. The program is set in Mexico, where migration has moved people across borders, and from rural villages to congested cities.

 

Copies: 1 (DVD)

Length: 60 minutes

BODA, LA (THE WEDDING)

Description: You are invited to the wedding of Elizabeth and Artemio in Nuevo León, Mexico. The video introduces a young couple whose lives and community have roots in Mexico while they encounter the challenges of migrant life in the United States.

Copies: 1 (DVD)

Length: 53 minutes

BORDER BRUJO

Description: The acclaimed performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña directs himself in this video focusing on issues of cross-culturalism along the U.S.-Mexico border. In his performance he switches in and out of various characters reflecting different aspects of border culture.

Copies: 1 (DVD)

Length: 50 minutes

BORDERS

Description: Borders tells three small stories to illuminate a much larger one: the consequences of a world order in which products freely cross borders that people may not. Borders is a succinct and powerful meditation on the contradictions of U.S. border and trade policy. PART 1: LOVE ON THE LINE: Families divided by the U.S./Mexico border reunite for transnational picnics. PART 2: CONTAINER CITY: The metal containers that bring products to the US make Newark, New Jersey a different kind of bordertown. PART 3: A VISIBLE BORDER: An x-ray image shows the way 21st century workers are responding to borders that are open to products but not to them.

Copies: 2 (DVD)

Length: 2-3 minutes each

CIUDAD, LA (THE CITY)

Description: Four fictional stories set in New York City, but common to many other places United States or the world. Filmed in black and white, the program depicts Latin American immigrants living in New York: day laborers paid to gather brick from an abandoned lot struggle to save one crushed when a wall collapses; a young man from Mexico meets a girl from his home village at a quinceañera, then loses her in the maze of a housing project; a homeless puppeteer dreams of a better life for his daughter, but cannot enroll her in school; a sweatshop seamstress needs money for her daughter’s medical treatment, but her employer has not paid her in more than a month. Most of the actors are nonprofessionals and are themselves struggling immigrants, bringing understanding and realism to the film Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 84 minutes

CROSSES (CRUCES)

Description: In 1995, the U.S. Border Patrol instituted Operation Gatekeeper, which has caused the death of about 1800 migrants since its implementation. CROSSES documents the efforts of artists and activists to bring the disastrous effects of Operation Gatekeeper to the conscience of the people of both the U.S. and Mexico, and to pressure the governments of both countries. By representing every death with a cross bearing the name of the victim, mounted directly on the border wall, they keep the issues alive. Crosses are still visible today. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 18 minutes

CRUCEROS Y CAMINOS

Description: Like many communities across the Southeast, the town of Clinton, North Carolina, has become home to a vibrant and growing Spanish-speaking community. This diverse community of newcomers, who are attracted to the area by jobs in the agriculture and livestock industries, are struggling to honor their cultural and religious identities while making new lives. This short video documentary, made by a graduate student from UNC- Greensboro in collaboration with Clinton’s Immaculate Conception Church and local Latino leaders, consists of still and moving images of community meetings, religious ceremonies, and cultural festivals which are narrated by a mosaic of voices from the community. Copies: 2 (VHS) Length: 17 minutes

CUBAN ROOTS / BRONX STORIES

Description: This documentary traces the tangled paths and multifaceted identity of a black Cuban family in the Bronx. Both working-class and professional, black and Latino, foreign and native, Spanish-speaking and English-speaking, the family is shown in the constant process of negotiating its identity. On their arrival in Miami, the family immediately encountered racial segregation, and they were forced to choose their identity: “Are you black or Spanish?” The film explores the various experiences that each family member had in dealing with the realities of life as black Cuban-Americans in the Bronx. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 56 minutes

CUBAN-AMERICANS, THE

Description: An exploration of the experience of Cubans living in the United States, focusing especially on the nature of the community since 1959. The film avoids explicit discussions of politics and instead focuses on the maintenance of community, culture and identity among Cubans now living in the United Staes. Through interviews with numerous celebrities, the film explores the experience of leaving Cuba and subsequent exile in the United States, that challenges of building lives as newly arrived immigrants in the United States, and the cultural forms that served as vehicles for the preservation of Cuban identity. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 90 minutes

DE NADIE

Description: Individuals who leave their countries in hopes of a better life in the United States have a rough road ahead of them. Mexican filmmaker Tin Dirdamal follows a number of refugees in a refugee center in southern Mexico, from whence they hitch illegal rides on freight trains to the northern border. Copies: 2 (DVD) Length: 84 minutes

DIABLO NUNCA DUERME, EL

Description: When Lourdes Portillo receives a phone call informing her that her uncle was found dead she returns to Mexico. Her investigation of the circumstances of her uncle’s death takes us deep into the land of Northern Mexico, inside the life of her family and her community, to a place between reality and fiction. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 82 minutes

ESCUELA, LA

Description: There are over 800,000 students enrolled in migrant education programs in the United States and, of those, only 45-50% ever finish high school. “Escuela”, the sequel to Hannah Weyer’s critically acclaimed documentary “La Boda”, personalizes these glaring statistics through the honest portrait of a teenage Mexican-American farm worker, Liliana Luis. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 52 minutes

GUESTWORKER, THE

Description: Since 1986, thousands of Mexican men have entered the United States to work under the auspices of the H-2A guestworker program. These men are given temporary visas to come to the United States for several months a year and provide labor in sectors such as agriculture in which American citizens are increasingly unwilling to work. The Guestworker centers on the experiences of Candelario Moreno, who works on the pepper, cucumber, and tobacco fields of Wester Farms in North Carolina. It explores the need for labor that drives the program and examines the conditions experienced by those Mexicans who make the choice to participate. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 53 minutes

GYPSIES WITHOUT TENTS (GITANOS SIN CARPAS)

Description: This documentary portrays the lives of Chile’s estimated 15 – 20,000 Romanies (Gypsies) by documenting the stories of three families and their everyday struggles to reconcile their traditional culture with the advantages offered by cultural assimilation. The film brings us into the families’ homes, their places of worship, the children’s schools, and the markets where the men trade, where the protagonists speak, in the Romani language as well as Spanish, about their lives and their concerns as Chileans and as Romanis. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 62 minutes

HAVANA NAGILA: THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN CUBA

Description: This documentary traces the history and presence of the Jewish community in Cuba. It explores the impact of the 1959 Revolution on the five percent of the original community, the community’s recent resurgence, and the international issues that affect its future. Rich in footage of Cuba, archival material and interviews, this film depicts an important history of Jewish immigration, with a focus on the particular experience of Cuban Jews. Edited by Vicente Franco and narrated by Isabel Alegría. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 57 minutes

HAVANA TODAY: IMPRESSIONS OF A CITY

Type: Documentary, Year: 2001, Director: Cecilia Ricciarelli and Diego Malquori, Country: Cuba, Format: DVD-R, Language: Spanish, Subtitles: English

NATIVES: IMMIGRANT BASHING ON THE BORDER

Description: This film depicts the disturbing increase in racism, violence and intolerance along the US-Mexican border in recent years. NATIVES examines the concerns of some of the individuals involved in San Diego’s anti-immigrant movement. Relying principally on a cinema vérité style and avoiding explanatory narration, the film seeks to critique the nativist position by contrasting their professed love for their country with their racist and anti-democratic attitudes.

Copies: 2 (DVD and VHS) Length: 25 minutes

NORTE, EL

Description: Mayan Indian peasants organize in an effort to improve their lot in life. After the army destroys their village and kills their family, a teenage brother and sister decide they must flee to “El Norte”. After receiving clandestine help from friends and humorous advice from a veteran immigrant on strategies for traveling through Mexico, they arrive in Los Angeles, where they try to make a new life as young, uneducated, and illegal immigrants.

Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 139 minutes

NUESTRA COMUNIDAD

Description: This film documents the personal experiences and work environments of migrant workers living in North Carolina and examines the impact of their arrival on their newly adopted communities. The debate about whether illegal immigrants should be living and working in the United States is central to this film. Through many interviews with policy-makers, immigrants, religious officials, human rights workers and North Carolina residents, a complete picture of the opinions that fuel the debate is provided here. The film also examines the contours of cultural encounter and prospects for the future for these new southerners.

Copies: 3 (DVD and 2 VHS) Length: 60 minutes

PAPERS: STORIES OF UNDOCUMENTED YOUTH

Description: There are approximately 2 million undocumented children who were born outside the U.S. and raised in this country. This documentary explores the situation of young people who were educated in American schools, hold American values, know only the U.S. as home and yet risk deportation to countries they may not even remember. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 88 minutes

ROOTS OF MIGRATION

Description: A journey by US citizens to Oaxaca, Mexico reveals the global forces that have pushed millions of people to migrate to the United States. Learn first-hand why people make the journey north, why they wish they didn’t have to, and what effect their migration has on their communities back home. Shot entirely on location in Oaxaca, Mexico during a fact-finding trip organized by Witness for Peace co-founder, Gail Phares. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 20 minutes

SLEEP DEALER

Description: Sleep Dealer is a futuristic science fiction story set in a world not much different from our own, in which borders are closed, and a global, high speed network ties distant people and places together. The story centers on 3 characters who inhabit very different spaces in this world: a migrant, a soldier, and a writer. Sleep Dealer won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for both the Gotham and Independent Spirit awards. Geoffrey Gilmore, the festival director, describes the movie as “a combination of The Matrix, Blade Runner, and The Border”. Already a Latino Sci-Fi classic, this film has been praised by critics and audiences alike. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 90 minutes

SOY ANDINA

Description: The dazzling story of two women raised in different worlds — an immigrant folk dancer from the Andes, and a modern dancer from Queens, NY — who return to Peru to reconnect with their cultural heritage through an astonishing world of traditional dance and celebration. Soy Andina is an exuberant cross-cultural road trip, bursting with traditional music and dance rarely seen outside the country. But the core story is intimate and universal: a yearning for roots and connection in turbulent times. An inspirational story, Soy Andina examines the issue of identity in a globalized era. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 70 minutes

SUEÑOS DE ANGÉLICA, LOS (ANGELICA’S DREAMS)

Description: Filmed on location in Durham, North Carolina, Los Sueños de Angélica follows the life of a Latino couple striving to enter the mainstream of American society. Angélica and Roberto work multiple jobs and take English classes as a means of realizing their desire to move ahead financially in the United States. At the same time they are torn between their new lives and a desire to return home to the land of their birth and recreate a new life there. Unexpected changes bring these tensions to the fore and push the couple to decide between these two desires. This film provides a window into the everyday lives and consciousness of Latino immigrants while exploring the process of buying a home in the United States. Copies: 1 (DVD) Length: 82 minutes

VIDA NO ES FACIL, LA

Description: This documentary examines the issue of the ineligibility of undocumented immigrants for in-state tuition at North Carolina’s public universities and how this situation affects the lives of college-aged Latino students. Director Maurice M. Martinez examines this controversial topic through the stories of three such students who were born to poor farm workers in Mexico. They have spent much of their lives in the U.S. and are struggling to find the financial resources to attend college. Other topics covered include misconceptions of the Latino community, the conditions of agricultural labor and the impact of Latinos on the economy.

Copies: 1 (DVD)