The New Americans Part 1 & 2

From 1997, different film crews followed the lives of new, non-European immigrants to the United States over several years. They started filming in the countries of origin – Palestine, the Dominican Republic, India, Mexico and a Nigerian refugee camp in Benin – thus showing the great individual differences between immigrants. A modern Palestinian woman who wants to get ahead, two Dominican baseball talents who have been discovered, a refugee who cannot go back home. But the similarities remain nonetheless: the tears on departure, the oversimplified dreams of freedom, wealth and happiness, the pressure from relatives to send them money and the disappointing reality after arriving. In the first part, Israel Nwidor and his wife Ngozi travel from a refugee camp in Benin to Chicago; two baseball talents from the Dominican Republic who have been discovered by the LA Dodgers immigrate, full of dreams of money and success; the Palestinian Naima wants to marry an American Palestinian and edges her way through the visa system.