Bruno, 20, and Sonia, 18, are surviving on her welfare checks and Bruno's petty crimes when Sonia becomes pregnant. Bruno sells their baby to a black market adoption ring to make some quick cash. Faced with Sonia's shock, he regrets his mistake and buys the child back at a premium—but, after being turned away by Sonia, his mounting debts lead Bruno down a quick path to desperation.
Irena (Kseniya Rappoport), a Ukrainian prostitute on the run, is determined to find a job in an elegant apartment building in northern Italy, and starts by cleaning the stairs. She does it in order to inch her way into working for a family residing in that building. She befriends Gina (Piera Degli Esposti), the nanny of the family's child, Thea (Clara Dossena), who also lives with them in their apartment. When the nanny is crippled in a fall—tripped by Irena—but presumed to be accidental, Irena is hired to take her place. Through flashbacks, viewers learn that Irena has been physically and emotionally abused, and forced to bear nine children, all taken away at birth to be sold to adoptive families. After stabbing her pimp and leaving him for dead, she sets out to find her youngest child, whom she believes is Thea; hence the plot to work for them. Adoption documents in the apartment convince her that Thea is indeed her daughter. The mother grows suspicious of Irena and fires her, despite the loving relationship that has grown up between Irena and the child. Irena's pimp stalks her and sends out thugs to beat her up as she walks down the street. He rigs her employer's car, leading to a crash in which Thea's mother is killed. The pimp forces Irena to drive him to a location that may or may not contain the money Irena stole from him when she left him for dead. During a struggle, he falls and is killed as his head hits a rock. Thea's father moves to a new apartment and prepares a room for Irena, but as the police suspect foul play around the death of Thea's mother, Irena is taken into custody. She reveals both that the true culprit is the pimp and that she killed him. She is tried, and sent to jail. Thea stops eating until the judge allows Irena to visit her in the hospital and feed her. DNA testing reveals that Thea is not her daughter after all. After she is out of jail, she finds Thea, a young lady now waiting for her.
The film begins with Joe Kavanagh at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, relaying an experience from his past. He states the ritualised greeting: 'My name is Joe and I'm an alcoholic.' He feels that he is not in a position to drink any more with safety. He tells the group that he copes by praying and states that he is grateful to be at the meeting. He receives a round of applause for his admissions.
The film is about two working class women, Isa and Marie. Isa is a drifter and searching for a lover she had met during the summer. When she realizes that her search for him is futile and turns elsewhere she meets Marie, who lives in a small French town near Lille. The two young women instantly find a connection as they both have been treated harshly by life and are living from day to day in short-time jobs, such as working in a textile factory or delivering leaflets in the streets. Marie lives in an apartment that she is looking after because the owners had a car accident in which everyone died, except for Sandrine, a teenager, who is in a coma. Marie invites Isa to live with her. Shortly thereafter Isa and Marie meet up with two bouncers, Fredo and Charly, whom they befriend. The men help them out and they have genuine fun together, although they are not much better off than the women.
Gino (played by Enrico Lo Verso) and Fiore (Michele Placido) are Italian racketeers who come to Albania just after the fall of communism to set up a fictive firm and pocket the grants.
The film's plot focuses on an African teenager named James (Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe) whom hails from the fictional African village Entshongweni, who goes on a pilgrimage journey, on behalf of his village, towards the Holy Land, Israel, and especially in order to come to Jerusalem. Upon arriving in Israel, James is suspected to be an illegal foreign worker and as a result he is arrested. Shimi (Salim Daw), a contractor of foreign workers, releases him on bail to work with him. After James explains to him that he did not travel to Israel to work, Shimi clarifies to him that since he paid for his release, James now owes him. Therefore James is forced to interrupt his journey and begin working for Shimi.
Le documentaire trace un parallèle entre la grande émigration italienne en Amérique du Sud des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles et celle d'aujourd'hui. Il montre plusieurs trajectoires de Brésiliens d'origine italienne qui se sont installés en Vénétie et qui, malgré leur statut légal, sont victimes de xénophobie et des difficultés de la bureaucratie. Giancarlo Gentilini , le maire de Trévise, est longuement interviewé et explique sa politique de « tolérance zéro ».
For a Moment Freedom tells of the odyssey of three Iranians groups of refugees: a married couple with a child, two young men with two children, and two men who are friends despite the differences between them.
Dans les campagnes mexicaines, la pauvreté se transmet le plus souvent par héritage. De génération en génération, les jeunes reproduisent les gestes des anciens dans un même combat pour survivre.
Philippe is a former teacher who left everything to become a shepherd in the French Pyrenees. After the construction of a nuclear power plant near his sheep, he decided to leave the area. After an unsuccessful search in Switzerland, he found the village Chersogno in the Maira Valley. The village is inhabited mainly by elderly residents and people who come only for summer holidays. It is a very closed community, which preserves the Occitan language and culture in Italy. After some doubts, the town council finds a home to let to Philip and the villagers set to work to restore it.
The film tells the story of Rosario (Kate del Castillo), a mother who illegally immigrates to the United States, and her nine-year-old son, Carlitos (Adrián Alonso). Rosario and Carlitos have not seen each other in four years, since Carlitos was five. Rosario, now living in Los Angeles, California, calls her son, (still in Mexico), every Sunday at 10 A.M. from a payphone. Carlitos lives in a small Mexican village with his sick grandmother and his oppressive aunt and uncle, who try to take custody of him in order to get the money that Rosario sends to him. One day, while working for a woman named Carmen (Carmen Salinas), Carlitos encounters two American immigrant transporters (coyotes), Martha (America Ferrera) and David (Jesse Garcia), who offer to smuggle small children across the border.
Okwe is an illegal Nigerian immigrant to the United Kingdom who drives a cab in London during the day and works at the front desk of a hotel at night. The hotel is staffed with many immigrants, both legal and illegal. Okwe keeps himself awake by chewing khat, an herbal stimulant. A doctor in his home country, he was forced to flee after being falsely accused of murdering his wife. In London, he is pressed into giving medical treatment to other poor immigrants, including fellow cab drivers with venereal diseases. Okwe's friend Guo Yi, an employee at a hospital mortuary, provides him with antibiotics under the table.
The 39-year-old chemist Bruno Davert has been working for a Belgian paper mill for 15 years, improving products and saving money for the shareholders. One day, the company announces that it is forced to "downsize", so 600 staff are laid off and many of their jobs are instead outsourced to a company in Romania. The result is a 16% increase in dividends to the company shareholders.
Après La Forteresse, qui décrivait l'accueil des demandeurs d’asile en Suisse, Fernand Melgar porte son regard vers la fin du parcours migratoire. Au Centre de détention administrative de Frambois à Genève, des hommes sont privés de liberté dans l’attente d’un renvoi. Requérants d’asile déboutés, condamnés étrangers ayant purgé leur peine ou sans papiers, ils sont sommés de partir après, pour certains, avoir passé plusieurs années en Suisse, travaillé, payé des impôts, fondé une famille. Leur incarcération peut durer jusqu’à 18 mois. Dans ce huis clos, la tension monte au fil des jours. D’un côté des gardiens bienveillants, de l’autre des détenus vaincus par la peur et le stress. Des rapports d’amitié et de haine, de respect et de révolte se nouent jusqu’à l’annonce du renvoi vécu comme une trahison. Ceux qui refusent de partir et susceptible d'opposer une forte résistance physique sont menottés, ligotés et installés de force dans un avion pour un « vol spécial » qui se déroule la plupart du temps dans la détresse et l’humiliation.
The film tells the story of Vincent, a middle-aged man who is laid off after having spent more than 11 years working for a prestigious consulting firm. Unable to admit to his family that he has been fired, the unemployed executive continues to pretend he is going to the office every day. In reality, Vincent spends his time aimlessly driving the highways of France and Switzerland, reading papers, or sleeping in his car.