As a Palestinian refugee, Ahmad escaped from Lebanon to Germany 40 years ago. In a conservative and strict way, he raises his six children in Berlin Neukölln. His oldest son, the filmmaker, talks to his father, interviews his siblings and tries to understand how war, escape and exile affect a human being.
Biodun is Nigerian. In this animated documentary, he tells the story of his journey on foot from Lagos to Paris, how he survives with a container (un bidon) and thanks to his courage. With his amazing patter, he transforms the events into extraordinary adventures.
Europe by Bidon
2022
6
Venture out to the Masumoto Farm – eighty acres of prime, peach-growing orchards – where seven varieties of the sweet juicy fruit are cultivated to sun-kissed perfection by a dynamic father-and-daughter team of David “Mas” and Nikiko Masumoto. Director Jim Choi succinctly captures this underrepresented facet of the CA farming industry about an Asian American family-run business, three generations strong, which in turn presents us with the changing idea of the American Dream. - See more at: http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/changing_season_2015#sthash.54OdJcdi.dpuf
Changing Season
2015
0
Unfulfilled dreams, expectations and competition in the closely interwoven relationships between a mother and her two daughters. Observations of a fragile triangular relationship in an icy microcosm.
Eismädchen
2014
0
Documentary on the attempted murder of two Mexican day laborers in Farmingville, New York.
Farmingville
2004
6
A documentary that explores the human and financial costs of illegal immigration.
They Come to America
2012
5
In northern Morocco lies the Spanish enclave of Melilla: Europe on African Land. On the mountain above live over a thousand hopeful African migrants, watching the land border, a fence system separating Morocco and Spain. Abou from Mali is one of them – the protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it. For over a year, he has ceaselessly persisted in attempting to jump the fence.
Les Sauteurs
2017
6
In America, everyone has a family story of immigration. Every family, at some point, has had somebody leave their native country behind to search for a better life. How did they hold onto their identity? How did they adapt to their new life? Every family has a special story. In my case, it's my Chinese-American story. My father would always tell us his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on my deaf ears until I returned to China with him.
我的中國生活
2014
9
The film RYTMUS Housing Estate Dream took 8 years to create and closely documents the life of one of the most famous personalities of the Czech-Slovak music scene. Patrik "Rytmus" Vrbovský grew up in an ordinary family in a housing estate in Piešťany and, due to his Roma origin, he often encountered prejudice from his surroundings. Today, he releases albums in tens of thousands of copies, was a Superstar judge, and his videos have been viewed on the Internet by more than 200 million users. The film will also offer exclusive footage from family archives of videos and photographs, supported by personal testimonies from people from Rytmus' closest circle.
RYTMUS Sídliskový Sen
2015
4
On a Summer afternoon, Pedro packs the last few boxes before having to leave his apartment in New York. 12 years ago, Pedro and Ana had arrived in America from Portugal, in search of a dream. Now, Ana's voice describes, from the other side of the ocean, that same country to which they are returning. As the rooms are emptied, Pedro bids farewell to one life, welcoming another. But the dream that brought him will remain forever in the city that never sleeps, awaiting his return.
De Outro Sítio
0
The internationally acclaimed director and recipient of the Erasmus Award in 2007, Péter Forgács created a documentary exploring the fate of hundred thousands of Hungarian men and women who arrived to the United States between 1890 and 1921. To tell their sagas Forgács weaved this grand epic from the early American cinema, found footage, photographs and interviews. The film reveals the difficult moments of arrival, integration and assimilation, which eventually fed the happiness of the later generations and their fulfillment of the American dream.
Hunky Blues
2009
6
Life for refugees and migrants stuck at Calais: Filmed amidst the camps, the beaches, the sea and the sky, impressions of the lived experiences of these people wavering between despair and hope.
Fugitif, où cours-tu ?
2018
6
My name is Ion. Who could have imagined the fate that awaited me: my birth under the Romanian dictatorship, the loss of my eyesight through an accident, my sudden escape from my homeland to seek a future that was a little too idyllic? One thing is certain: fate is like all the criminals that I listen to today for the Belgian federal police. With a little willpower, there is always a way to dodge its tricks. The person who taught me that is a close and loyal childhood friend. That friend is literature. Without her, I probably would not be what I am now, here, among you.
Ion
2013
1
At the turn of the century, Sephardic Jews fled the turmoil of their homeland to start a new life in America. Filled with interviews, archival photos and dozens of Ladino phrases, this slice of Northwest history captures their story as they arrived in Seattle and found work at the Pike Place Market.
The Sephardic Jews and the Pike Place Market
2001
0
Three arrested and detained undocumented immigrants must navigate the system to fight impending deportation.
America; I Too
2017
1
After the insurrection erupted in Libya in the spring of 2012, more than a million people flocked to neighboring Tunisia in search of a safe haven from the escalating violence. When a massive refugee camp was hastily constructed near the Ras Jdir border checkpoint in Tunisia, a trio of filmmakers carried their cameras in and began filming with no agenda. This on-the-fly chronicle of the camp's installation, operation, and dismantling captures a postmodern Babel complete with a multinational population of displaced folk, a regime of humanitarian aid workers, and international media that broadcasts its “image” to the world. Visually stunning and refreshingly undogmatic, Babylon reveals a rarely seen aspect of the Arab Spring.
Babylon
2012
0
Brussels, Béguinage church. Migrants organize a hunger strike to obtain papers. A man dies. Tunisia, Libya. A border camp of Choucha refugees tell the horror of crossing the Sahara to the north. Liège. In a refugee center, a man narrates his Mediterranean crossing in a chamber of air. Three moments of a battle for survival.
Heros sans visage
2012
7
An epic feature documentary about a coal mining town with a fiery immigrant heritage, once pivotal in fueling America’s industrial revolution and today in decline and struggling to survive and retain its identity, soul and values – all of which were dramatically challenged when four of the town’s white, star football players were charged in the beating death of an undocumented Mexican immigrant named Luis Ramirez. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Turnley’s most personal work, SHENANDOAH creates a deeply felt portrait of a working class community, and the American Dream on trial.
Shenandoah
2012
6
Hang Sou and his family, preliterate tribal farmers, await resettlement in a refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing their war-consumed native Laos. "Becoming American" records their odyssey as they travel to and resettle in the United States. As they face nine months of intense culture shock, prejudice, and gradual adaptation to their new home in Seattle, the family provides a rare insight into refugee resettlement and cultural diversity issues.
Becoming American
1984
0
Thoughtful documentary exploring the shocking court decision to grant custody to a child’s father, a convicted murderer, rather than her lesbian mother.
Unfit: Ward vs. Ward
2012
3
Documentary exploring the effect of mass immigration on the dwindling white community of the East End, from the perspective of those who remain and those who chose to leave.
Last Whites of the East End
2016
7