Butterflies Can't Swim

An impressionistic look at Irish emigrants in London, representing the emigrant's journey, a confusion of anticipation, memories and experience.

Sister Tse is brought to New York by a Snakehead, a human smuggler. Although she is indebted to the crime family responsible for her transport, her survival instincts help her gain favor with the matriarch, and she rises quickly in the ranks. Soon Tse must reconcile her success with her real reason for coming to America—to find the child that was taken from her. In the end, Sister Tse must draw on the strength she found in transforming her victimhood into power.

Liubov, a Russian lady who lives in Mexico City. During the routine of her day, Liubov will recall the experiences she had with death, from childhood to adulthood.

Sira, a former refugee, works as a translator for OFPRA (the French Office for the Protection of Stateless Persons and Migrants). She unscrupulously fleeces her clients, selling them fictions she creates to convince the authorities.

The film tells the story of Imri, who at 19 goes to live in Tel Aviv, but dreams of moving to Japan. Through his relationships and encounters and in diverse cinematic tools, we are introduced to the young person’s life. An exploration of living in the exotic city of Tel Aviv is presented through a hero who are themselves in the midst of exploring his own choice of an exotic place. A unique correlation is formed between the hero’s misconception of Japan and ours of them. The movie was constructed by both improvised and pre-scripted scenes, as required by the nature of each scene. (Source: Filmmaker Website)

This anthology film, whose Chinese title begins with a romantic name for human excrement, premiered internationally at Rotterdam and won Best Screenplay from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. A variety of Hong Kong people wrestle with nostalgia when facing an uncertain future. Their stories give way to a documentary featuring a young barista turned political candidate.

For years, the immigration officer Dr. Ludwig Sarheimer and the chairman of the Turkish community Cengiz Demirkan in Cologne have been fighting a small war. While the one, as a hodja, upholds the traditions of his homeland and brings Anatolian brides to Germany for Turks who are willing to marry, the other wants to prevent exactly that. Cengiz's daughter Lale Demirkan is at the center of these ongoing disputes. At home, the young woman plays the well-behaved Turkish daughter, but as soon as the German studies student leaves the house, she takes off her headscarf and sense of tradition and has fully arrived in German life. In her free time, she practises martial arts fighting techniques. So far, she has successfully fended off potential grooms.

"Outside the Aquarium" is the new exhibition of protagonist Jonas. In his paintings he portrays his experiences as a black immigrant and part of the LGBT Community expressing his fears, loneliness and dreams for the future.

Tahir Agha sells all his assets when his business in Maraş deteriorates. He immigrates to Istanbul with his wife Hatice, sons Selim, Murat, Kemal and daughter Fatoş, where he sets his mind to open a repair shop. But in the metropolis, things don't go as planned.

Soriba Samb is a Senegalese who has just received a much sought after internship to study filmmaking in Paris. Soriba heads to Paris, accompanied by the five-year old son of a friend who he believes to be still living in Paris. On arrival he struggles to find the boy’s father. In addition to coping with his new internship, Soriba has to also spend time tracking down the boy’s father ‘Issa’.

Maysa unfolds over a single afternoon as a young woman and her stoic middle eastern mother navigate the quiet tension of a long-held silence. As memories of migration and girlhood surface in fractured flashbacks, their unspoken history begins to unravel. A tender, restrained portrait of love, resilience, and the things women carry - even when they no longer have to.

Samir, a young student from Hamburg, lives with his best friend in a shared apartment and is in a happy relationship. Everything seems normal—until one day he receives a notice to leave the country voluntarily. The news hits Samir like a hard blow, and overnight his dreams seem to vanish. When he finally tells his friends, however, it becomes clear that they will not let him go so easily.

An epic love story spanning decades is sparked by a chance encounter between two men in provincial Mexico. Based on a true story, ambition and societal pressure propel an aspiring chef to leave his soulmate and make the treacherous journey to New York, where life will never be the same.

The story of a family who moved from a village to Istanbul with two children in order to live a better life, but ended up living in an abandoned bus due to poverty and lack of accommodation.

Marcelo was taken to Paris, where he has lived since he was 12. After the sudden death of his mother in 1992, he returns for the first time to the place where he was born. As he walks through the city of his childhood, a series of memories unfolds, revealing a story of friendship torn apart by tragedy and the social tensions that marked Brazil in the 1960s, leading him to question his identity and his place in the world.

The protagonists of this docudrama are old farmers who migrated to Banat after the First World War, in 1922. The film is focused on a couple of important events in their impressive lives, which are woven into lively scenes and stories full of wise instances. Their statements become spontaneous recounts of the lives of people in this region.

LEI and WONG clandestinely arrive to Ecuador, on their way to the port city of Guayaquil. From here LEI plans to continue her journey to New York, but CHANG, a bipolar mobster will decide her fate. WONG unwillingly gets entangled in the web of corruption that operates the encroachment of Chinese immigrants. His only objective is to bring his twelve-year-old son from China.

ADRIFT- People of a Lesser God is the story of an incredible odyssey made by several-times Pulitzer Prize-nominated undercover reporter Dominique C. Mollard. In this gripping story, Mollard sails with 38 African migrants, among them a five-month-old baby, out of West Africa on a quest to reach the golden shores of Europe. All aboard are packed together like sardines in a leaky fishing canoe as they set off under full moon on their harrowing journey. ADRIFT-People of a Lesser God captures the struggle of these desperate migrants as they brave their way across the cold Atlantic, risking their lives in search for a better future. —Ziad H. Hamzeh

A man and a woman in Lagos want to escape their everyday lives, but extricating themselves is no easy task. Two stories narrated with tenderness and restraint that only fleetingly touch, the dream of migrating to Europe floating above them all the while.

Longing for a brighter future, two Senegalese teenagers embark on a journey from West Africa to Italy. However, between their dreams and reality lies a labyrinth of checkpoints, the Sahara Desert, and the vast waters of the Mediterranean.