The Ultimate Guide To Films About Refugees [100+ Movies & Documentaries]
Photo: Children of Men, Universal Pictures (2006)
For thousands of years, displacement and migration have played an essential role in human history. No matter the reason for leaving one’s homeland, the experience of leaving behind everything familiar to journey towards a new, better life is a familiar story. It’s no wonder, then, that so many films have centered around these very themes.
We believe that it's important for everyone to learn about the refugee experience, and films are just one way to do so! By watching someone’s story, we can become more compassionate and aware of what these populations go through. It also helps break stereotypes and prejudice, which can inspire conversations about how we can create a more caring and inclusive world.
We hope this list will be of use to anyone looking to learn more about the refugee experience!
How To Use This List
Every film is listed alongside the name of a country and then categorized according to the world region with which it is commonly associated. For example, a film about refugees from Cuba would be listed under the category “The Americas”.
The films are categorized by the country of origin of the displaced person/s in the film, not on where the story takes place. For example, the movie Fear (Strah in Bulgarian) is categorized under “The African Continent” and not “Europe'' because the refugee character in the movie is from Mali. Even though the entire story takes place in Bulgaria, Europe, it is the refugee’s country of origin that is used for organization.
At the bottom of this page is an additional list of films that are focused on migrants and not refugees. However, they cover similar themes such as the challenge of putting down new roots, widening generation gaps, battling racism and cultural isolation, and ongoing legal tensions.
The Americas
Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey (Cuba)
Before Night Falls (Cuba)
De Nadie/No One (Various)
Jaminton and Yannia Leave Home (Colombia)
Encanto (Colombia)
Sin Nombre (Honduras)
Soledad (Unknown)
Under the Heavens (Venezuela)
We Shall Remain (USA)
Europe & Russia
An American Tail (Russia)
Back to Bosnia (Bosnia)
Beautiful People (Former Yugoslavia)
Calablanca (Various)
From Refugee to Immigrant: A Story of Three Kosovar Albanian Americans (Albania)
Goodnight Mister Tom (UK)
In Search of Happiness (Russia)
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (Various)
Kosovar Albanian Americans (Albania)
Last Resort (Russia)
Nicky’s Family (Czech Republic)
Return (Croatia)
Schindler’s List (Germany)
The Jewish Steppe (Russia)
The Long Way Home (Various)
The Windermere Children (Germany)
Transit (France)
Uprooted (Ukraine)
Voyage of the Damned (Germany)
Welcome to Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The African Continent
A Great Wonder: Lost Children of Sudan (Sudan)
A Season in France (Central African Republic /France)
A Stranger In My Homeland (Zimbabwe)
And Breathe Normally (Guinea Bissau)
And God Grew Tired of Us (Sudan)
Asfur (Syria)
Asylum (Ghana)
Caught in the Middle (Ethiopia)
Caught in the Middle, Part 2 (Ethiopia)
Fear (Mali)
God Grew Tired of Us (Sudan)
Google Darfur (Sudan)
His House (SouthSudan)
Home Across Lands (Ethiopia)
Hotel Rwanda (Rwanda)
Lifestories: The Lost Boys of Sudan (Sudan)
Lost Boys of Sudan (Sudan)
Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter (Mali)
On the Brink of Famine (South Sudan)
Rain in a Dry Land (Somalia)
Roosevelt’s America (Liberia)
Shield of Solomon (Sudan)
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (Sierra Leone)
Sixteen (Unknown)
Tears of the Sun (Nigeria)
The Good Lie (South Sudan)
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo)
The Letter: An American Town and the ‘Somali Invasion’ (Somalia)
The Lost Boys (Sudan)
The Rainbow Centre of Gaziantep (Syria)
War Child (Sudan)
War/Dance (Uganda)
The Middle East
3 Logical Exits (Palestine)
A Drowning Man (Palestine)
A Road to Oxford (Syria)
A World Not Ours (Palestine)
After Spring (Syria)
Al Nakba: The Palestinian Catastrophe (Palestine)
American Herro (Iraq)
Amreeka (Palestine)
Captains of Za’atari (Syria)
Children of Shatila (Palestine)
Children of Syria (Syria)
Chronicle of a Disappearance (Palestine)
For Sama (Syria)
Forgotten Refugees (Various)
Gaza Ghetto (Palestine)
Hamsa (Syria)
Ismail (Palestine)
It Must Be Heaven (Palestine)
Little Palestine (Palestine)
Limbo (Syria)
My Small Land (Turkey/Kurdistan)
Refugee (Syria)
Salam Neighbor (Syria)
Simple as Water (Syria)
Sky and Ground (Syria)
The Other Side of Hope (Syria)
The Swimmers (Syria)
The Unreturned (Iraq)
This is Exile (Syria)
Turtles Can Fly (Iraq)
Watani (Syria)
Welcome (Iraq/Syria)
When I Saw You (Palestine)
Xenos (Palestine)
Yemen: The Silent War (Yemen)
Zagros (Kurdistan)
Central Asia
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Afghanistan)
Any Day Now (Iran)
Baran (Afghanistan)
Barefoot to Herat (Afghanistan)
Flee (Afghanistan)
Born in Evin (Iran)
In This World (Afghanistan)
Kandahar (Afghanistan)
Leave To Remain (Afghanistan)
Love Child (Iran)
My Tehran for Sale (Iran)
The Kite Runner (Afghanistan)
The Midnight Traveler (Afghanistan)
The Tree that Remembers (Iran)
Three Songs for Benazir (Afghanistan)
Manus (Iran)
Molly & Mobarak (Afghanistan)
South, East, & South East Asia
A.K.A. Don Bonus (Cambodia)
A Song for Tibet (Tibet)
Becoming American (Laos)
Being Hmong Means Being Free (Laos)
Blossoms from Ash (Myanmar)
Blue Collar and Buddha (Laos)
Bolinao 52 (Vietnam)
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce (Vietnam)
Daughter from Danang (Vietnam)
Dheepan (Sri Lanka)
Ennittum Idam Illathavar / Yet They Have No Space (Sri Lanka)
First Person Plural (South Korea)
He Named Me Malala (Pakistan)
Moving to Mars (Myanmar)
New Year Baby (Cambodia)
Nowhere Man (Pakistan)
Oh, Saigon (Vietnam)
Passage of Life (Myanmar)
Reflections: Returning to Vietnam (Vietnam)
Seoul Sisters (North Korea)
Seoul Train (North Korea)
Shadow Over Tibet: Stories in Exile (Tibet)
Shadows and Whispers (North Korea)
The Betrayal/ Nerakhooon (Laos)
The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America (Laos)
The Yodok Stories (North Korea)
Wandering, a Rohingya Story (Myanmar)
Various Countries
4.1 Miles
24 Days in Brooks
Dirty Pretty Things
Exodus
Exodus: The Journey Continues
Human Flow
Fire at Sea
REFUGEE
Refugee Journey / Parcours de réfugiés
Sea Sorrow
Seaview
Stateless
The Fortress / La Forteresse
Well-founded Fear
Dystopian/Fictional Setting
Children of Men
District 9
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Home
Paddington
The Terminal
Movies about Immigration
Movies that are not explicitly about refugees but tackle the issues of migration and show the parallels between forced and “unforced” migration
A Better Life (Mexico)
Ambiguity: Crónica de un Sueño Americano (Guamtemala)
Blood of My Blood (Mexico)
Blood on the Wall (Various)
Crossing Over (Various)
Cyber-Mom (El Salvador)
Desde el Barro al Sur (Nicaragua)
Desierto (Mexico)
Documented (Philippines)
El Camino (Costa Rica)
El Norte (Guatemala)
ESL: English as a Second Language (Mexico)
Good Day, Ramon (Mexico)
Home Again (Jamaica)
I’m No Longer Here (Mexico)
Icebox (Various)
Inocente (Unknown)
Kiko (Unknown)
Leave to Remain (Afghanistan)
Made in LA (Various)
Maria Full of Grace (Colombia)
Marisol (Unknown)
Minari (South Korea)
Monsieur Lazhar (Algeria)
Salt of the Earth (Mexico)
The Golden Dream/La jaula de Oro (Mexico & Guatemala)
The New Americans (Various)
The Other Side of Immigration (Mexico)
The Real Mo Farah (Somalia)
The Route was Never the Destination (Cuba)
Unseen Shadows: Those Who Are Left Behind (India)
Yellow Rose (Philippines)
Which Way Home (Various)
Who is Dayani Cristal (Mexico)
Under the Same Moon (Mexico)
Conclusion
We hope this guide was helpful! Let us know in the comments if there is a film that belongs on this list.
Looking for a curated list? Check this out:
17 Insightful Movies about Refugees (And Where to Watch Them)