A better life is elsewhere

Sursum Corda, amore

2025

This intimate letter from a migrant grandson about his Italian grandmother, also a migrant, unites in a trip to Italy the portrait of Venezuelan migration as a vital legacy of the European post-war period and the current crisis that has led the South American country to the largest exodus the continent has ever known.

Lo Que Queda en la Tierra

2025

In the mountains of Colombia's Coffee Triangle, a family faces the shadow of armed conflict. Years later, a son reconstructs the inherited fear, amidst echoes of the past and invisible scars. A sensory journey into memory, where the unspoken still resonates.

Guañape sur

2011

Guanape Sur. A barren rock island off the coast of Peru. No soil, no water. Nothing is growing here. Around its shores a restricted area has been established. The island serves hundreds of thousands of sea birds as a breeding ground.

Pueblo de lata

1972

Migrants from the countryside and unemployed people from neighbouring cities take over some unused land and establish a neighbourhood in the industrial zone of Maracay. The event coincides with a presidential election campaign, which motivates political demonstrations in that town.

The New Policy Regarding Homeless Asylum Seekers

2025

Dublin, June 2024: thousands of men seeking asylum in Ireland are homeless. Olivia and her group of volunteers are trying to find safe locations where the men can sleep each night, but the government is actively enforcing its new policy against homeless encampments, and the far-right are lurking.

Motherland

2024

Director Miriam Pucitta grew up as the child of Italian migrant workers in Switzerland in the 1960s and 1970s. She herself has only fragmentary memories of this time; her mother and other relatives evade Miriam's questions. Together with her daughter Giulia, she researches her family's living conditions in Switzerland and finds a new understanding of her parents' difficult decisions.

Sent Away Boys

What happens to families in the absence of sons? What happens to land in the absence of farmers? What happens to villages in the absence of men? Sent Away Boys weaves together stories of individual ambitions and family biographies from Punjab (India) to chronicle the gradual transformation of agrarian landscape and patriarchal traditions through ongoing transnational migration. As the promise of a secure future in agriculture grows increasingly uncertain for young men across the region, escaping India to join the low-wage labor in countries like Canada and USA becomes their sole aspiration. In rural Punjab, being a successful man now entails leaving their village, traveling abroad, and sending money home. Through interviews with men preparing to undertake often risky journeys and women awaiting the return of their sons, brothers and husbands, Sent Away Boys shows how young men's decisions to emigrate implicate families and communities across North India.

Home Movie: A Diary for my American-Born Son

2003 · ★ 10

A film about homes on both sides of an ocean.

Deportation Class

2017 · ★ 8

Documentary about a "transportation commando" in Germany with the goal to deport 200 people to Albania...

The Wildebeest Migration: Nature's Greatest Journey

2012 · ★ 8.5

Every year, on the steppes of the Serengeti, the most spectacular migration of animals on our planet: Around two million wildebeest, Burchell's zebra and Thomson's gazelles begin their tour of nearly 2,000 miles across the almost treeless savannah. For the first time, a documentary captures stunning footage in the midst of this demanding journey. The documentary starts at the beginning of the year, when more than two million animals gather in the shadow of the volcanoes on the southern edge of the Serengeti in order to birth their offspring. In just two weeks, the animal herd's population has increased by one third, and after only two days, the calves can already run as fast as the adults The young wildebeest in this phase of their life are the most vulnerable to attacks by lions, cheetahs, leopards or hyenas. The film then follows the survivors of these attacks through the next three months on their incredible journey, a trip so long that 200,000 wildebeest will not reach the end.

Talking About Visibility

2021

No synopsis available.

Winged Migration

2001 · ★ 7.6

This documentary follows various migratory bird species on their long journeys from their summer homes to the equator and back, covering thousands of miles and navigating by the stars. These arduous treks are crucial for survival, seeking hospitable climates and food sources. Birds face numerous challenges, including crossing oceans and evading predators, illness, and injury. Although migrations are undertaken as a community, birds disperse into family units once they reach their destinations, and every continent is affected by these migrations, hosting migratory bird species at least part of the year.