Multicultural films to watch
Films about the immigrant / ethnic minority experience in Western countries and / or race relations and cross-cultural themes
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- DirectorFatih AkinStarsBirol ÜnelSibel KekilliGüven KiraçWith the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.
- DirectorDeepa MehtaStarsPreity G ZintaGick GrewalVansh BhardwajChand, a young Punjabi woman, travels to Canada to marry a man she has never met. They live in a crowded suburban house and Chand has to also put up with her husband's abusive behavior.
- DirectorRamin BahraniStarsAlejandro PolancoIsamar GonzalesRob SowulskiAlejandro, a resourceful street orphan on the verge of adolescence, lives and works in an auto-body repair shop in a sprawling junkyard on the outskirts of Queens, New York. In this chaotic world of adults, Alejandro struggles to make a better life for himself and his sixteen-year-old sister.
- DirectorTim SuppleStarsParminder NagraRonny JhuttiChiwetel EjioforMulticultural version of the Shakespearean tale Twelth Night, Made in modern day society featuring Anglo-Indian cast.
- DirectorDavid KewNeil ThompsonStarsSebastian NanenaBhasker PatelRani MoorthyA teenage boy is gunned down outside a nightclub and a young girl dies in a hit and run in two seemingly unrelated deaths. Deeva Jani, returns home to clear her brother Vipon of the shooting and soon discovers a much deeper conspiracy.
- DirectorSarah HardingStarsParminder NagraRay WinstoneBen AldridgeAn ageing chauffeur goes to extreme lengths for one night with his boss's beautiful daughter.
- DirectorMenhaj HudaStarsJames Krishna FloydAdam DeaconAlyy KhanA drama centered on a British Asian torn between honoring his family traditions and his love for DJing.
- DirectorSally El HosainiStarsJames Krishna FloydElarica JohnsonFady ElsayedTwo teenage brothers must face their own prejudices head on if they are to survive the perils of being Egyptians growing up on the streets of gangland London.
- DirectorSerge Le PéronSaïd SmihiStarsCharles BerlingSimon AbkarianJosiane BalaskoMy name is Georges Figon. Okay I'm dead but, being the talkative kind, death isn't going to stop me from speaking. Yes, I'm a shady individual. Sure I have links with the underworld and other dark forces. But luring Ben Barka, the Moroccan opposition leader, into a trap was mainly an opportunity for me to become a great movie producer. Nothing political about it. Just the big money. And my girlfriend, actress Anne-Marie Coffinet, will become a star thanks to me. I have already been able to sign Georges Franju as the director,Marguerite Duras as the scriptwriter and Ben Barka as the technical advisor of a film that will never be. What I didn't know is that I had hired the Grim Reaper as the Nemesis...
- StarsLi SunLuke MacfarlaneSam NeillA poor but feisty Chinese woman, disguised as a boy, joins the railroad crew in the Rocky Mountains to search for her long-lost father, and falls in love with the son of the railroad tycoon.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsMichelle WilliamsJohn DiehlWendell PierceA drama that investigates anxiety and disillusionment in America.
- DirectorZiad DoueiriStarsVahina GiocanteMoa KhouasKarim Ben HaddouTwo inner-city teenagers engage in an obsessive, innocent flirtation fueled by Lila's sexually explicit overtures.
- DirectorAvie LuthraStarsMeera SyalNitin GanatraZubin VarlaHARDEEP, RASHMI and ATUL are brothers and sisters. Which means they can say anything they like to each other, no matter how honest. Mad, Sad and Bad is a 90-minute comedy about mixed race relationships set in Luton. It's about mid-thirties siblings and friends whose personal lives are continuously messed up by their own selfish needs. Mad, Sad and Bad explores our contemporary metropolitan neuroses through the intersecting lives of these siblings and their friends. The narrative slips from one character to the next as they escape and attack each other. all reluctant members of the same dysfunctional family.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsGael García BernalMichelle WilliamsMarife NecesitoWhen a father has to leave his family in New York, for a business trip to Thailand in the gaming industry, fatal destinies collid.
- DirectorPratibha ParmarStarsLaura FraserShelley ConnArt MalikA feisty young woman returns to Glasgow to run her deceased father's curry house.
- DirectorJohn JeffcoatStarsJosh HamiltonAyesha DharkerAsif BasraAfter his entire department is outsourced, an American novelty products salesman (Hamilton) heads to India to train his replacement.
- DirectorDominic HarariTeresa PelegriStarsGuillermo ToledoMarián AguileraMaría BottoA mismatched couple discovers that whatever can go wrong will go wrong during a family visit in this warm comedy.
- DirectorZafar HaiM.R. ShahjahanStarsNaseeruddin ShahStellan SkarsgårdAmjad KhanPolice Inspector Ghote lives a middle-class life in Bombay along with his wife, Pratima. He has been employed with the Bombay Police for many years. His wife is generally disgruntled and wants a better life. He is assigned to investigate the deadly assault on a Parsi man named Perfect, who is the Secretary of Lala Heera Lal, a wealthy man with underworld links. Inspector Ghote commences his investigation and is displeased when his superiors ask him to work with a Swedish Forensic Expert by the name of Axel Svennson. Axel is thrilled to get a closer look at the working of the Bombay Police, but also realizes that Ghote may not be one of their best police officers. When their friendship develops, he gets invited to Ghote's house, and gets to meet Pratima. Their investigation, though Prima Facie simple enough, takes them through turns and twists that both had not expected - including corridors of power and corruption - and finally to the conclusion and the unmasking of the culprit(s) behind this incident.
- DirectorGaurav SethStarsShaheen KhanJuggun KazimJasbir MannIn a community which values boys over girls, Gugan, a young feisty Indo-Canadian girl sets on collision course with her traditionally-minded mother when she gets pregnant out of wedlock...with triplet girls!
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsPatricia WaltersNora SwinburneEsmond KnightThe growing pains of three young women contrast with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold.
- DirectorEran CreevyStarsRiz AhmedDaniel MaysJason FlemyngShifty, a young crack cocaine dealer in London, sees his life quickly spiral out of control when his best friend returns home. Stalked by a customer desperate to score at all costs, and with his family about to turn their back on him for good, Shifty must out-run and out-smart a rival drug dealer intent on setting him up for a big fall. As his long time friend Chris confronts the dark past he left behind him, Shifty is forced to face up to the violent future he's hurtling towards.
- DirectorJeff StanzlerStarsRobin WrightAbdellatif KechicheÉlodie BouchezAgainst the anxieties and fears of post-9/11 America, an Arab cab driver picks up a troubled professional woman with unexpected results.
- DirectorHugues MartinSandra MartinStarsGrégoire Leprince-RinguetThierry FrémontSaïd TaghmaouiA platoon of French soldiers on a rescue mission in North Africa confront invisible evil creatures.
- DirectorMarco KreuzpaintnerStarsKevin KlineKathleen GatiPaulina GaitanAdriana, 13, is kidnapped in Mexico City by Russian sex traffickers. Her criminal 17 y.o. brother starts looking for her. Across the border in Texas, he gets help from a cop.
- DirectorTom McCarthyStarsRichard JenkinsHaaz SleimanDanai GuriraA college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
- DirectorPhilippe LioretStarsVincent LindonFirat AyverdiAudrey DanaBilal sets off on an adventure-filled journey across Europe and wants to get to England to see his love who lives there.
- DirectorIan MuneStarsTemuera MorrisonRena OwenClint ErueraJake Muss' oldest son is killed in a gang fight and the younger son wants revenge, but Jake doesn't want to lose his other son to violence as well.
- DirectorDavid AttwoodStarsNaveen AndrewsSarita ChoudhuryRonny JhuttiA young Pakistani living in London, Zaf is a guitar-playing singer who longs to achieve stardom alongside his fellow musicians. The group looks to be on the cusp of a commercial breakthrough when they bring in female singer Rifat.
- StarsMili AvitalAlan BatesJames FrainTo cure a Prince's murderous madness, Scheherezade tells him a series of wondrous stories.
- DirectorKanwal SethiStarsPasha BocarieDan FlorescoChristoph FrankenThe pakistani hairdresser, Haroon, has immigrated illegally to Germany, the German in- surance broker, Mark, dreams of emigrating. The consequences of a car accident throw these two entirely different people together for one night. At the end of an odyssey through the alien world of illegality, they both discover that something bonds them: a desire to be far away...
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsShirley MacLaineNavin ChowdhryPeggy AshcroftRenowned Russian piano teacher Irina Sousatzka gets a new student - Bengali piano prodigy Manek. They are both immigrants in the UK and bond quickly. When Manek's single mother's business fails, he must make a career decision.
- DirectorMira NairStarsDenzel WashingtonSarita ChoudhuryRoshan SethAn ethnic Indian family is expelled from Idi Amin's Uganda in 1972 and lives in Mississippi 17 years later. The dad sues Uganda to get his property back. The grown daughter falls in love with a Black man.
- DirectorMeneka DasStarsNaveed AkhtarJoe AndersonMeneka DasSet in a country coming of age, Little Box Of Sweets is a simple love story about a young girl's journey to fight for her dreams and the love of the man who inspired her! A little village in North India is Asha's (Meneka Das) world. Whatever she knows and wants is right here in her humble existence with her grandparents and soul mate Lalli (Sheenu Das). Then Seth (Joe Anderson) comes along, the handsome son of an Indian Commissioner (Rahul Vohra) and Sheila (Helena Michell), the beautiful daughter of a British missionary. Seth and Asha's common love for poetry draws them closer - awakening Asha to a dream to be more like him and strive for a better future....But it comes as at a price.....
- DirectorUdayan PrasadStarsOm PuriRachel GriffithsAkbar KurthaPakistani taxi-driver Parvez and prostitute Bettina find themselves trapped in the middle when Islamic fundamentalists decide to clean up their local town.
- DirectorKrutin PatelStarsDavid AriSheetal ShethMadhur JaffreyThe only goal of an ageing Asian-American widow is to see her son and rebellious daughter (described as an American Born Confused Deshi or ABCD) married off to respectable Indian families.
- DirectorAli F. MostafaStarsAlexandra Maria LaraSonu SoodSaoud Al KaabiA privileged young male Arab at odds with his cultural identity and his less fortunate street smart friend; a disillusioned Indian taxi driver who bears an uncanny resemblance to a famous Bollywood star; and a former Romanian ballet dancer now working as a flight attendant and searching for love and companionship ... these individuals all live in Dubai and their lives are about to collide for better or for worse in a city where ambition, growth and opportunity are encouraged and dreams can still manifest. "City of Life" is an urban drama that tracks the various intersections of a multi-ethnic cast, examining how random interactions and their consequences can irrevocably impact another's life. As the name suggests, City of Life's inordinately humane kaleidoscope of converging experiences introduces a city that is in itself a living pulsating character. "City of Life" ultimately reveals how unexpected tragedy and loss can lead to hope and profound transformation as it explores and exposes the complex network that exists in an emerging multi cultural society's race, ethnicity and class divide.
- DirectorSangeeta DattaStarsSharmila TagoreGirish KarnadOm PuriA doctor faces challenges in life as well as from his daughters after the sudden passing of his wife.
- DirectorNicolas KlotzStarsHugh GrantShabana AzmiSupriya PathakA British engineer becomes entangled in a forbidden romance with his Indian employer's eldest daughter. As their passion ignites, the East-meets-West clash of cultures leads to surprising and tragic consequences.
- DirectorJames DodsonStarsJesse MetcalfeSara FosterAnupam KherAn employee at an Indian call-center travels to San Francisco to be with a guy she falls for over the phone.
- DirectorShani GrewalStarsLalita AhmedPeri AllanRobert AsheSanjay, following a blazing argument with his girlfriend, Jill, is persuaded by his friends to become 'The Guru' by sleeping with seven women in the next seven days before Jill returns from her trip to America.
- DirectorSherry HormannStarsSoraya Omar-ScegoIdriss Abdillahi HoufanehAwa Saïd DararWaris Dirie, born 1965 in Somalia, flees at thirteen when sold to be a mans fourth wife. She works as a maid at the Somalian embassy in London, then in a McDonald's where she's discovered and becomes an international top model. Then, in 1997 she speaks up against female genital mutilation.
- DirectorArnaud DesplechinStarsSummer PhoenixIan HolmFabrice DesplechinA Jewish girl in nineteenth century London, dreams of becoming a stage actress.
- DirectorNisha GanatraStarsNisha GanatraJill HennessySakina JaffreyReena is a young, gay Indian-American woman who lives and works in New York. Her sister Sarita, who is married, discovers that she is infertile. Reena offers to be a surrogate mother for her sister's baby, hoping to improve her relationship with their mother, who disapproves of Reena's sexual orientation. Reena has second thoughts when her girlfriend Lisa feels left out.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsJames RollestonTe Aho Eketone-WhituTaika WaititiBoy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
- DirectorBruno DumontStarsJulie SokolowskiKarl SarafidisYassine SalimeA young nun is expelled from a convent because of her extreme devoutness and forms a relationship with a radical Muslim.
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsAndré WilmsBlondin MiguelJean-Pierre DarroussinWhen an African boy arrives by cargo ship in the port city of Le Havre, an aging shoe shiner takes pity on the child and welcomes him into his home.
- DirectorKhalid HussainStarsAsia BegumKnut Erik GrorudNiklas GundersenJan loves Jasmin, but she has been promised to a Pakistani man who will shortly arrive in Norway to marry her. Under cover of writing a thesis on immigrant stores, Jan gets a job at the store of Allahditta and Yousaf, Jasmin's father and brother-in-law. Yousaf helps Jan become a Muslim so he can have Jasmin, and Jan helps Yousaf prepare for his taxi-driver's test. Jan simultaneously, tries to work on Allahditta's attitude towards mixed marriages, which Allahditta profoundly opposes. This is an unusually warm-hearted and generous comedy which investigates Pakistani-Norwegian cultural differences, and problems related to them, with humour.
- DirectorNigel ColeStarsReece RitchieAmara KaranHarish PatelFor Atul Dutt and his young bride Vina married life is proving far from straightforward, when it comes to their 'first night'. Atul is so woefully inhibited by the proximity of his parents, let alone his brother's childish pranks, that his beautiful virgin bride remains just that. When their hard saved honeymoon is cancelled the next day, the couple is forced to return to the Dutt household and set up home there. So with meddling parents, nosy neighbours and a community that thrives on gossip, can this marriage last?
- DirectorAlan BallStarsSummer BishilAaron EckhartPeter MacdissiA young Lebanese-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist and her strict father during the Gulf War.
- DirectorRaffaello DegruttolaStarsRebecca AtkinsonJody Marriott Bar-LevCrispian BelfrageThe misadventures of an Indian film director as he attempts to make the leap from Bollywood to Hollywood.
- StarsJoss AcklandMartin BalsamClaire BloomAn Anglo-Indian woman emigrates from India to Great Britain, pursues fame and fortune at the cost of personal happiness, and becomes a Hollywood movie star while suppressing the truth of her heritage.
- DirectorAmit GuptaStarsHarish PatelAdam BeresfordKulvinder GhirThis comedy revolves around two brothers, both wonderful chefs, who fall out catastrophically.
- DirectorRavi KumarStarsMischa BartonMartin SheenKal PennInterwoven stories of people in India and the US as they face dilemmas of life in the months leading to the biggest industrial disaster in human history that claimed 10,000 innocent lives within a few hours. Inspired by real events.
- DirectorDan BaronStarsBrie LarsonUtkarsh AmbudkarScott BakulaA brilliant scientist is plucked out of the company lab and sent to India to sell the genetically modified rice she created - which she doesn't realize will destroy the farmers she thinks she's helping.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsHelen MirrenOm PuriManish DayalThe Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery.