Introduction by Immigration Nation Series Curator and JBFC Director of Film Curation and Programming Eric Hynes

The Immigrant (1917)

In a performance that managed to capture the collective experiences and emotions of a generation of European immigrants to the U.S., Charlie Chaplin as The Tramp encounters a series of obstacles during his voyage overseas as well as upon his arrival to New York. By turns uproarious and heartrending, The Immigrant springs entirely from scenarios familiar to strivers of the time, with every meal and penny accounted for, dramatizing precarity as a way of life. 

The Immigrant (2013)

Featuring a tour de force turn by Marion Cotillard and hauntingly vivid cinematography by Darius Khonji, James Gray’s The Immigrant is among cinema’s most effective evocations of street and tenement life in early 21st century New York. When Polish immigrant Ewa (Cotillard) is separated from her sister upon arrival to Ellis Island in 1921, she’s forced to fend for herself in a harsh, unforgiving society. Betrayed by a devout uncle who’s convinced she’s survived through sinful means, Ewa becomes the object of rivalrous affections between a manipulative pimp (Joaquin Phoenix) and a charming magician (Jeremy Renner), both of whose promises to help her rejoin her sister prove suspect before violence intervenes.