By Giovanna Torres
Since 2020, I’ve been curating film series with a focus on Latin American cinema, most recently founding the Charlotte Latino Film Festival in 2024. When I was invited to curate the immigration edition of the Community Impact Film Series, I hesitated. My specialty is Latin American stories. And while many people equate immigration solely with the Latin American experience, the reality is far broader. Immigration is universal — so are its stories, and so is film.
From the start, I knew I wanted to create a program that challenged that narrow perception. My goal was to present, in just 90 minutes, a selection of short films that could reveal the complexity and nuance of migration — a mosaic of journeys across continents, generations and emotions. Immigration is as varied as the people who live it: resilience and longing, triumph and loss, hope and home — all existing at once.
These films invite audiences to see the human story behind the headlines.
- Swimming with Wings — An animated documentary following children in the Netherlands learning to swim with clothes on, a poignant metaphor for the resilience migrant children must develop early in life.
- Kowloon! — A portrait of the largest Chinese restaurant in the U.S., examining the Wong family’s American dream and the cultural and economic impact of immigrant entrepreneurship.
- We Were the Scenery — A lyrical exploration of identity, memory and displacement.
- Leaving Ikorodu in 1999 — A rare look at the family members left behind, exposing the emotional cost of migration.
- Lana — A moving depiction of the emotional labor and unspoken responsibilities immigrant children often bear.
- Hope and Resistance: 5 Years of the Carolina Migrant Network — Celebrating five years of immigrant rights advocacy by a Charlotte-based nonprofit and the community bonds it has fostered.
Film can express what words alone cannot — making the unseen visible and the unheard felt. My hope is that this program sparks conversation, deepens understanding and reminds us that every migration story carries the universal desire for dignity, safety and a place to call home.
Join us on Saturday, Aug. 30, for the Community Impact Film Series on immigration. You can learn more — and reserve your ticket to this free event — here.