PBS Independent Lens Series, 2004
2004 IDA Limited Series Award
Council on Foundations Film Festival, 2005-2006
The 40th Chicago International Television Competition–Gold Hugo, Best Television Production, 2004
The 40th Chicago International Television Competition–Gold Hugo, Chicago Award, 2004
Portland International Film Festival–Official Selection, 2004
South By Southwest Film Festival–Special Screening, 2004
Big Muddy Film Festival–Official Selection, 2004
Santa Barbara International Film Festival–Special Screening, 2004
It’s All True Documentary Film Festival, Brazil–Special Screening, 2004
Stranger Than Fiction Documentary Film Festival, Ireland–Official Selection, 2004
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival–Official Selection, 2004
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam–Special Screening, 2003
Aired Internationally on:
- BBC (United Kingdom)
- SBS (Australia)
- VPRO (Netherlands)
- DR (Denmark)
- NOGA (Israel)
- CBC (Canada)
The New Americans follows four years in the lives of a diverse group of contemporary immigrants and refugees as they journey to start new lives in America. We follow an Indian couple to Silicon Valley through the dot-com boom and bust. A Mexican meatpacker struggles to reunite his family in rural Kansas. Two families of Nigerian refugees (including the sister of slain Ogoni activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa) escape government persecution. Two Los Angeles Dodgers prospects follow their big dreams of escaping the barrios of the Dominican Republic. A Palestinian woman who marries into a new life in Chicago only to discover in the wake of September 11, she cannot leave behind the pain of her homeland’s conflict.
Kartemquin assembled a team of talented directors including the creators of Hoop Dreams, Who Killed Vincent Chin, and Vietnam, Long Time Coming. The detailed portraits that resulted were woven into a seven-hour miniseries that presents a kaleidoscopic picture of immigrant life and a first impression of the U.S. that few born in America can imagine.