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Immigrant Epics

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May 9, 2025

43 minutes

Available for over a year

The Brutalist has been one of the most talked about films of the year and taps into a rich vein of films and television that dramatise the immigrant experience.

From The Godfather Part 2 to Small Axe, The Emigrants to Home and Away and An American Tail - Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode examine how filmmakers have investigated and portrayed the perils, patterns and adventure of human movement across the globe.

Mark speaks to film critic Christina Newland about the history of immigrant epics in Hollywood - from Once Upon a Time in America to The Brutalist.

Ellen then speaks to writer and creator of the tv series Get Millie Black, Marlon James, about his experience watching Small Axe for the first time. Ellen also talks to director Sir Steve McQueen about his anthology series Small Axe and how the films act as their own immigrant epic for the Windrush generation.

Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales

A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4