 Refugee Films and Books
1-Autobiography, Biography, Fiction and Poetry | 2-Titles for Children and Youth | 3-Other Nonfiction Services | 4-Films on Refugees and Asylum Seekers | 5-AcknowledgementsProject for Strengthening Organizations Assisting Refugees
Tip Sheet: Books and Films About Refugees and U.S. Refugee Resettlement
Are you looking for books or films to help your volunteers, staff, donors, or other supporters learn more about your MAA’s or VOLAG’s work? See below for a list of some of our favorites.
Autobiography, Biography, Fiction and Poetry
- A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah
- Andy Grove: The Life and Times of An American, Richard Tedlow
- Autobiographical Notes: A Centennial Edition, Albert Einstein
- Call Me By My True Names, Thich Nhat Hanh
- Day and Night, Elie Wiesel
- First they Killed my Father, Luong Ung
- Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, Robert Olin Butler
- Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
- Lost Boys of Sudan, Mark Bixler
- My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet
- Notes From My Travels, Angelina Jolie
- Nowhere Man, Aleksandar Hemon
- Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard, Mawi Asgedom
- Refugee, Adnan Mahmutovic
- Slave, Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis
- The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World, Kati Marton
- The Land of Green Ghosts, Pascal Khoo Thwe
- The Middle of Everywhere, Mary Pipher
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman
- They Poured Down Fire on Us from the Sky, Alphonsian Deng, Benson Deng, Benjamin Ajak, and Judy A. Bernstein
- United Stress of America (in Serbo-Croation language only), Dalibor Bilic
- What is the What, Dave Eggers
- Kiss the Dust, by Elizabeth Laird
- Making it Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee, Beverly Naidoo (introduction)
- Refugee Boy, by Benjamin Zephania
- The Clay Marble, by Minfong Ho
- The Other Side of Truth, by Beverly Naidoo
- The Silver Sword, by Ian Serraillier
- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, by Judith Kerr
- Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo, by Zlata Filipovic
- Refugee Women, Susan Forbes Martin
- Refugees in a Global Era, Philip Marfleet
- Global Changes in Asylum Regimes: Closing Doors, Daniele Joly (editor)
- The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century, Arthur Helton
- Problems of Protection: The UNHCR, Refugees, and Human Rights, Niklaus Steiner, Mark Gibney, and Gil Loescher (editors)
- The Politics and Ethics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the response to Refugees, Matthew Gibney
- Homecomings: Unsettling Paths of Return, Fran Markowitz and Anders Stefansson (editors)
- Coming Home? Refugees, Migrants, and Those who Stayed Behind, Lynellyn Long and Ellen Oxfeld (editors)
- Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New America, Aihwa Ong
- Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology Among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania, Lisa H. Malkki
- Landscape of Hope and Despair: Palestinian refugee camps, Julie Peteet
- In The Land Of The Magic Soldiers, by Daniel Bergner
Films on Refugees and Asylum Seekers
A Great Wonder: Lost Children of Sudan, by Kim Shelton, 61 minutes
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/great.html
Documents the difficult transition of three of the "Lost Boys and Girls" of Sudan to life as immigrants in Seattle, WA. Susan Baukhages of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service calls it: “The best film I have seen...on refugee resettlement.”
Rain in a Dry Land, by Anne Makepeace
Chronicles two years in the lives of two Somali Bantu families who leave Kakuma refugee camp for very different new homes in Springfield, Massachusetts and Atlanta, Georgia. Official Selection of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2006.
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, by Zach Niles and Banker White
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/sierraleone/
Chronicles a band of six Sierra Leonean musicians living in a refugee camp in Guinea and how they use music to find hope. Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars chronicles the band over three years, from Guinean refugee camps back to war-ravaged Sierra Leone, where they realize the dream of recording their first studio album.
Lost Boys of Sudan, by Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk
http://www.lostboysfilm.com/about.html
An Emmy-nominated feature-length documentary that follows two Sudanese refugees from Sudan and Kenya to the U.S. Winner of an Independent Spirit Award and two Emmy nominations.
Roosevelt’s America, by Roger Weisberg and Tod Lending
An inspirational story of a Liberian refugee, Roosevelt Henderson's attempt to make a family life in Chicago. A civil engineer by trade, Roosevelt Henderson works as a furniture factory laborer, hotel van driver and laboratory janitor after emigrating to the U.S. from his dangerous, war-torn homeland. Henderson demonstrates resilience after enduring heartbreaking struggles in the work force and attempting to reunite with his wife and young daughter, still in Liberia.
And God Grew Tired of Us, by Christopher Quinn
http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com/
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, God Grew Tired of Us explores the spirit of three “Lost Boys” from the Sudan who leave their homeland, triumph over adversities, and move to America, where they build active and fulfilling new lives but remain deeply to helping the friends and family they have left behind.
Becoming American, by Ken Levine and Ivory Waterworth Levine
Becoming American records the odyssey of Hang Sou and his family, as they travel from Laos to a refugee camp in Thailand to a new home in Seattle.
Lost Boys of Sudan, by Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk, 87 minutes
A feature-length documentary that follows two Sudanese refugees, Peter Dut and Santino Chuor, on an extraordinary journey from Africa to the U.S.
The Lost Boys, by Clive Gordon, 77 minutes
Orphaned by the war in Sudan and raised in a desert refugee camp, Moses and his young friends are one day invited by the U.S. government to start a new life in Boston.
Afghan Stories, by Taran Davies, 58 minutes
http://www.afghanstories.com/afghanStories.html
Filmmakers Taran Davies and Walied Osman, an Afghan-American, set out to gain an understanding of how a generation of war has affected the Afghan people, spending time with families in Queens, New York, the frontline in Afghanistan, and points in between.
The Valley, by Dan Reed, 70 minutes
http://www.city.yamagata.yamagata.jp/yidff/catalog/99/eg/04/015.html
A real-time war documentary made in the middle of the Kosovo ethnic conflict, the piece was filmed in 1998 in Drenica Valley where the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had its base. The film documents interviews with people on both sides of the conflict.
Being Hmong Means Being Free, NEWIST/CESA #7 and Wisconsin Public Television, 56 minutes
http://www.naatanet.org/shopnaata/videos/title/B/beinghmong.html
Focusing on a Hmong immigrant community in Wisconsin, this documentary offers a comprehensive look at many fundamental concepts and practices of the ancient Hmong culture and investigates how these have framed the Hmong culture and community. Acknowledging the difficulties that have arisen from trying to follow those traditions in a new cou"Being Hmong Means Being Free" explores how life has changed for Hmongs in the space of a generation.
Blue Collar and Buddha, by Taggart Siegel, 57 minutes
http://www.naatanet.org/shopnaata/videos/title/B/bluecollar.html
A Laotian community in Rockford, Illinois survives terrorist bombings and drive-by shootings at its local Buddhist temple.
Bui Doi: Life Like Dust, by Ahrin Mishan & Nick Rothenberg, 28 minutes
http://www.naatanet.org/shopnaata/videos/title/B/buidoi.html
Life for most young Vietnamese youth in the U.S. is a "lifelike dust." This film takes us inside the mind of Ricky Phan, once a gang leader in Southern California and now serving an 11-year sentence for armed robbery. We are forced to ask ourselves which is more violent: fleeing from a war-ravaged nation or trying to survive in an alien western culture?
First Person Plural, by Deann Borshay, 56 minutes
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2000/firstpersonplural/program/synopsis.html
In 1966, at the age of nine, Deann Borshay came to the U.S. from South Korea as one of tens of thousands of children adopted by white American families after the Korean War. In this extraordinary personal documentary she chronicles her struggle to reconcile the demands of two families, two cultures and two nations.
The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America, by Taggart Siegel, 60 minutes
Follows the emotional saga of Paja Thao, a Hmong shaman and his family in the U.S. who were transplanted from the mountains of Laos during the Vietnam War to America's heartland. For over seventeen years, Siegel has chronicled the intimate and private lives of Paja Thao, his wife, and their thirteen children. This intimate family portrait explores universal issues of cultural transformation, spirituality and family. It is a rare close-up view of one Hmong family's resettlement and acculturation in America.
Letter Back Home, by Nith Lacroix and Sang Thepkaysone, 14 minutes
An honest and compelling look at life in San Francisco's Tenderloin district for Laotian and Cambodian youth. Tough and with attitude, they long for home while also carving out a life in their neighborhood. Through this bittersweet "letter back home," you can feel the history, resilience and strength in these youth.
Reflections: Returning to Vietnam, Producer: KCSM TV60, 30 minutes
Twenty years after the fall of Saigon in 1975, Vietnamese refugees are beginning to speak about the loss of family and friends, migration and feelings about their war torn homeland. The program offers three individual perspectives from the Vietnamese Diaspora.
Shadow Over Tibet: Stories in Exile, by Rachel Lyon, 57 minutes
http://www.mediarights.org/search/fil_detail.php?fil_id=04003
This film is a highly personalized account of Tibetan refugees attempting to maintain their ancient culture in exile while using nonviolent means to bring peace and freedom to their homeland. "Shadow Over Tibet" approaches its subject from two points of view: the personal odyssey of Norbu Samphell, a Tibetan immigrant now living in the U.S., who is determined to become part of the American social fabric without abandoning his cultural heritage; and the Dalai Lama, religious and secular leader of Tibet-in-exile, who seeks to create a "zone of peace" in Tibet. Lensed in the Himalayas and in Chicago, the one-hour documentary uses a combination of stunning stills, archival footage and location photography and features a personal interview with His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama.
In This World, by Michael Winterbottom, 88 minutes
The story of two Afghan cousins who, under the dubious wing of a chain of smugglers, trek overland from a refugee camp in Pakistan to London, where relatives await them. The movie has a horrifying sequence alluding to the Chinese deaths, but mostly it is an extraordinarily intimate evocation of just how helpless it feels to be a refugee.
Poetical Refugee, by Adbel Kechiche, 130 minutes
http://www.aff.org/archive/2001/films/poetical.html
Poetical Refugee is the story of Jallel, a North African immigrant in Paris. Claiming to be a refugee from war-torn Algeria in order to get residency, his life in the country of 'liberty, equality and fraternity' is one of homeless shelters, illegal jobs, assumed identities and emotionally complex sexual relationships.
From Refugee to Immigrant: A Story of Three Kosovar Albanian Americans,by Ellen Friedland and Curt Fissel
http://www.jemglo.org/kosova.htm
Traces the lives of three refugees from Kosova who arrived at Fort Dix, New Jersey in May 1999 following the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Albanians. With footage captured in the U.S. and on three trips to Kosova, including one immediately after the war when the three young men returned home to discover what fate had befallen their loved ones, the documentary examines the process of assimilation into American society in the aftermath of a national atrocity.
Asylum, by Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker, 20 minutes
http://www.hrw.org/iff/2003/ny/asylum.html
Baaba Andoh fled Ghana in fear for her life, when her long-lost father tried to force her to undergo female genital mutilation. Arriving in the U.S. with a phony passport, she was imprisoned by the INS for one year while her asylum case was being tried. Her harrowing story ends in victory, but she has not forgotten the thousands of asylum seekers who remain in detention today.
Asylum, by Garry Beitel, 78 minutes
http://www.savideoandfilm.plain.sa.gov.au/Documents/Videos/New%20Videos%20Jan%202003.doc
Follows three refugee claimants through the legal process that decides their status in Canada: Marnus Chowdhury from Bangladesh, Tatiana Linco from Kazakhstan, and Cristian Ghitescu, a stowaway from Romania. Their stories show the questions that have to be answered to determine who is a refugee.
The Day my God Died, by Andrew Levine, 70 minutes
http://www.seattlefilm.com/siff/films/film_detail.asp?filmid=133
Filmed in Nepal and India this documentary presents the stories of young girls whose lives have been shattered by the child sex slave trade. The film provides actual footage from inside the brothels of Bombay, known even to the tourists as "The Cages," captured with "spy camera" technology. The documentary also introduces the heroes of the movement who are working to abolish child sex slavery and who remind us that, "these are our daughters."
Brothers and Others, by Nicolas Rossier, 54 minutes
http://www.buyindies.com/listings/1/0/1062702464062.html
Brothers and Others follows a number of immigrant and American families as they struggle under the heightened climate of suspicion, FBI and INS investigations, and economic hardships that erupted in the U.S. following September 11, 2001. In interviews with Arab and Muslim immigrants, government representatives, and a select group of legal and historical experts, this film explores how America’s fear of terrorism has negatively impacted a substantial portion of the American population.
Beautiful People, by Jasmin Dizdar, 107 minutes
In London, during October 1993, England is playing Holland in the preliminaries of the World Cup. The Bosnian War is at its height, and refugees from the ex-Yugoslavia are arriving. Football rivals and political adversaries from the Balkans all precipitate conflict and amusing situations. Meanwhile, the lives of four English families are affected in different ways by encounter with the refugees; one of the families improbably becomes involved with a Balkan refugee through the England vs. Holland match.
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, by Chi Moui Lo, 119 minutes
Dwayne and his older sister Mai are adults: Mai is married to Vinh, Dwayne is about to propose to Nina. Twenty-two years ago, when Mai was 10, she and Dwayne were refugees in Vietnam, adopted by Harold and Dee Williams, African-Americans from Los Angeles. Now, they remain close, especially Dwayne and his parents. Mai drops a bomb: she's located their birth mother, Thahn, and she's flying her to LA. When Thahn arrives, tensions reach the breaking point.
A Family Crisis: The Elian Gonzales Story, by Christopher Leitch, 90 minutes
This film is based on the true story of the five-year-old Cuban boy who is the sole survivor of a refugee boat that sunk in a storm on its way to the U.S.
Fire Dancer, by Jawed Wassel, 79 minutes
The film follows Haris, an Afghan-American artist who shows his work at a downtown Manhattan art gallery. His story explores the ramifications of leaving Afghanistan and living as a refugee in America. Haris seems to be an all-American guy except that he creates strange installations of hanging ropes, and suffers from terrible visions- of himself as a child in Afghanistan in traditional dress, of smoke and bombs, of his dead parents and the Russian soldier who shot them during the Soviet invasion. Haris embarks on a journey through the world of Afghan-Americans to learn more about their culture, and there he finds both humor and tragedy. He meets Sunny, an Afghan immigrant hot dog vendor, whose son is a would-be rapper, among others, and falls for Laila, a fashion designer who still carries the expectations of her traditional parents.
Flygtningene fro Kosovo, by Per Wennick
This three-part documentary follows two families on their way from Kosovo to the primitive conditions in a refugee camp in Macedonia to resettlement in Randers, Denmark.
The Letter, by Ziad H. Hamzeh, 76 minutes
In the wake of 9/11, a firestorm erupts when the mayor of Lewiston, Maine sends a letter to 1,100 newly arrived Somali refugees advising that the city's resources are strained to the limit and asking that other Somalis not to move to the city. Interpreted as racism by some and a rallying cry by white supremacist groups across the U.S., The Letter documents the crossfire of emotions and events.
A GreatWonder, by Kim Shelton, 61 minutes
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/great.html
Documents the difficult transition of three of the “Lost Boys and Girls” of Sudan to life as immigrants in Seattle, WA.
Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey, by Jim Burroughs, 57 minutes,
http://www.mediarights.org/search/fil_detail.php?fil_id=01221
In Spring 1980, Fidel Castro opened the Cuban port of Mariel to thousands of refugees to cross to Key West, Florida and the promise of a new life in the U.S. Director Jim Burroughs and his crew boarded a flotilla vessel bound for Mariel to film the exodus. Burroughs followed three refugees: a 14-year-old girl entangled in bureaucracy; a doctor remanded to a detention camp at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; and a woman with two sons nervously awaiting reunion with her husband. Burroughs charts the fates of these individuals one year after their settlement in this country.
Journey to Kapasseni: A Refugee's Gift, by Bill Weaver, 51 minutes
http://www.mediarights.org/search/fil_detail.php?fil_id=04541
Joseph and Perpetua Alfazema are refugees from Mozambique who live in Victoria, Canada. They are determined to start a school in Joseph's home village, in one of the most desolate regions of Africa. Against all odds, they raise money for the school and begin a long journey.
North Korea - Shadows and Whispers,by Kim Jung-Eun, 52 minutes
http://www.mediarights.org/search/fil_detail.php?fil_id=02210
This documentary, filmed in the remote northeast mountains of China, captures the dire circumstances of North Korean refugees who journey to China.
One Family, Voices & Visions/ The Documentary Project for Refugee Youth, 10 minutes
http://www.mediarights.org/search/fil_detail.php?fil_id=05598
"One Family" tells the story of twelve youth from Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Burundi, and Serbia who have weathered both war and long journeys to America. After reaching their new home, they find themselves working and living as a group of refugees in New York City. Weaving their voices into a shared story, they reflect their views on themselves and the whole world, joined as one family.
TL Xmas, School Daze, and Home, Spencer Nakasako in collaboration with the Vietnamese Youth Development Center (VYDC), 50 minutes
http://www.naatanet.org/shopnaata/videos/title/T/tlxmas.html
“TL Xmas” follows Cambodian youths as they attend a "Gift Giveaways" program and experience the holiday for the first time. "School Daze" humorously breaks down a day in the lives of six students from different San Francisco high schools. "Home" closes the package with nine youths’ tender, poetic dedication to their family, friends, and San Francisco.
Refugee, by Spencer Nakasako
http://www.refugeethemovie.com/
In this film, three young refugees, raised in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, journey to Cambodia.
aka Don Bonus, by Spencer Nakasako and Sokly Ny, 55 minutes
http://www.mediarights.org/search/fil_detail.php?fil_id=03955
After escaping the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Ny family became one of thousands of refugees faced with resettlement in the U.S. Their lives unfold through the lens of this stirring video diary, which sees 18-year-old Sokly Ny (Don Bonus) struggling to graduate from high school.
Kelly Loves Tony, by Spencer Nakasako, 57 minutes
Seventeen year-old Kelly Saeteurn has a dream – an "American dream." Just out of high school and on her way to college, Kelly envisions a rosy future. Kelly is the first in her family of Iu Mien refugees from Laos to have accomplished as much as she already has, but she encounters grave obstacles in the course of pursuing her dream.
The book list above was compiled by the International Rescue Committee’s Seattle resettlement office, with contributions from IRC offices across the country. The film list was compiled by the IRC’s Salt Lake City resettlement office, with contributions from offices across the country.
Do you know of additional resources? Submit your contributions at soar@theIRC.org.