Fire at Sea (2016)

Director: Gianfranco Rosi
Run time: 108 min.

"I’m not sure that Mr. Rosi is interested in trafficking in hope, which is among his great virtues as a filmmaker. He takes a hard, empathetic look at reality, which contains wonders as well as horrors. He doesn’t bear witness — an overused and often presumptuous idea. He observes, with humility and precision. Instead of raising awareness, he cultivates alertness. 'Fire at Sea' occupies your consciousness like a nightmare, and yet somehow you don’t want it to end."

—A.O. Scott, New York Times (full review here).

H-2 Worker

Director: Stephanie Black
Run time: 67 min.

"Winner of the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival, H-2 Worker reveals the systematic exploitation of Caribbean laborers by the Florida sugar cane industry from World War II through the 1990s . . . Originally released in 1990, today H-2 Worker provides an invaluable resource to understanding the current debate over guest worker provisions of immigration legislation.  While Florida's sugar cane cutters have been replaced by mechanical harvesters, guest worker programs have expanded in agriculture, hotel, restaurant, forestry, and other industries."
—Distributor's description

American Dreamers (2016)

Director: Saray Deiseil and Jennifer Castillo 
Run Time: 88 min.
Call Number: JV 6483 .A443 2016

"American DREAMers follows the journey of Jon, Vero, Raymi, Jose, Alex, and Nico - also known as the Campaign for an American DREAM (CAD) - a group of five undocumented youth and an ally who risk their freedom to organize for immigrant rights by outing themselves as undocumented and walking more than 3,000 miles across America's heartland. Their stories of growing up in a country they know as home while constantly fearing that their families will be separated, inspires people from all parts of the country to take part in what they believe is their civil rights movement. These are college students, young professionals, activists, and community leaders. They are undocumented and unafraid."
—Publisher's description

Salam Neighbor (2015)

Directors:   Zach Ingrasci & Chris Temple
Run time: 75 min.

"The subjects include a 10-year-old Syrian boy who avoids school while struggling with severe shellshock, a grandmother who lost her sons in the war and now expresses her emotions by writing thoughts on her tent’s walls and weaving art out of discarded plastic bags, an international relief worker who advocates for women’s rights, a former university student and aspiring French teacher who now advocates for children’s education in the camp, and a single mother of three named Ghoussoon who lives outside Za’atari in the city of Mafraq."
 -Jenna Belhumeur, Wall Street Journal Blog (full post here)

Who is Dayani Cristal? (2013)

Director: Marc Silver
Run Time: 85 min.
Call Number: JV6483 .W46 2013

"The Sonora Desert in Arizona is freezing at night, brutally hot in the day. The documentary Who is Dayani Cristal? reveals that the infrastructure dealing with illegal immigration into the United States from points south is likewise hot, cold, and unnecessarily deadly. . . . We meet Americans dedicated to identifying, even humanizing, the bodies found there. But the system is by design a trap. Director Marc Silver covers one immigrant's journey, starting with his death."

—Daphne Howland, Village Voice