By James Berreth 

Editor in Chief  

There are few subjects in American public life more politically charged than immigration. The debate is usually conducted in numbers, statistics, legislation, and political talking points. “QUEEN(S)”, the new independent drama arriving in theaters this week, takes a different approach. It reduces an enormous national argument to the experience of one woman trying to build an ordinary life while living in extraordinary uncertainty. 

That decision is both the film’s greatest strength and its greatest challenge. 

Written and directed by Anup Kurian, the film centers around the story of Sisi, an undocumented immigrant living in Queens, New York. “QUEEN(S)” follows a woman whose hopes of establishing a secure future collide with the reality of existing without legal status. The film presents her not as a political symbol but as a person attempting to work, form relationships, and find some measure of stability in a city where nearly everything – from employment to housing to basic security – can become more complicated when a person cannot legally exist on paper.  

That premise gives the film an immediate dramatic advantage. The film does not need to manufacture an ideological argument because the circumstances of its protagonist provide the conflict. Sisi’s predicament is inherently political, but her desire is fundamentally human as she just wants a life in America. 

That distinction appears central to what the filmmakers are attempting to accomplish. 

The movie was filmed on location in Queens, New York, and Southeast Asia, and is being presented as an independent feature focused on the immigrant experience. Its Minneapolis premiere is particularly deliberate. The filmmakers have connected the theatrical release to what they call the Civic Cinema initiative, through which screenings are paired with organizations working on the issues depicted in the film. According to producers, half of the their’ share of box-office revenue from the engagement will be donated to partner organizations.  

That is an unusual approach to theatrical distribution – and an ambitious one. 

Rather than treating the movie as a self-contained piece of entertainment, “QUEEN(S)” is being positioned as a catalyst for conversation. The September 17 premiere at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis will include a post-screening discussion with lead actor Chi Hua Lee-Secci, the filmmakers, and Twin Cities community partners. The movie then moves to Emagine Willow Creek in Plymouth for a week-long engagement beginning September 18.  

But the film’s real test will not be whether audiences agree with its politics. It will be whether audiences become invested in Sisi herself. 

That is where “QUEEN(S)” appears to have the most potential. 

After obtaining an advanced screening of the film, I must say it is a powerful and visually striking film. The film utilizes prolonged scenes with a good amount of silence, and it took some getting used to. Once I became invested in the life and success of Sisi, the two hour run time flew by.  

The dichotomy between the visuals of Southeast Asia and the borough of Queens is another element of the film that left me impressed. What we see of the life left behind by Sisi and the stark contrast of the concrete jungle of Queens reminds us that there is beauty to be found everywhere in the world.  

From a political standpoint, there is power in making an audience understand what a policy argument feels like when it becomes someone’s daily existence. 

The title of the film – “QUEEN(S)” – also carries an intriguing ambiguity as Queens is simultaneously the setting and an identity. Sisi is attempting to make a life in a borough famous for its immigrant communities, cultural diversity, and enormous metropolitan energy. Yet she remains vulnerable precisely because the city around her cannot completely protect her from the consequences of her undocumented status. 

That tension gives the title an additional resonance as belonging to a place does not necessarily mean being protected by it. 

Chi-Hua Lee-Secci carries an especially important responsibility in that equation. The film’s premise places the emotional weight almost entirely on her character, meaning the performance must communicate fear, frustration, hope, and determination beneath circumstances that could easily become melodramatic. I believe she succeeds at all levels. 

Lee-Secci has previously appeared in independent productions including “Simchas and Sorrows”, “Townhouse Confidential”, and “Isabella: Diary of a Foster Girl”, making “QUEEN(S)” a significant opportunity to take on a substantially more central dramatic role. 

The timing of the film is also impossible to ignore. Immigration remains one of the most polarizing issues in American politics, and the film arrives at a moment when arguments about undocumented immigrants are frequently reduced to competing political narratives. A movie that deliberately refuses to begin with policy and instead begins with an individual can therefore serve a useful cinematic purpose. 

A socially conscious movie cannot rely solely on the importance of its subject. The filmmaking itself has to work. Characters must feel like people rather than arguments. Conflict must emerge organically rather than being inserted merely to reinforce a predetermined message. And compassion cannot substitute for dramatic complexity. 

I believe “QUEEN(S)” succeeds and could become considerably more than an immigration film. It may become a character study about the precariousness of belonging, and about how the American Dream is conditional. 

The Twin Cities premiere is being explicitly framed as an opportunity to put a human face on the immigration debate, while the filmmakers describe the story as nonpartisan. In an era when audiences often approach political movies expecting to be told what they are supposed to believe, “QUEEN(S)” appears to be attempting something more difficult by asking viewers to sit with an individuals circumstance before deciding what they think about the larger political question. 

Whether it succeeds will ultimately be determined on September 17. 

For now, “QUEEN(S)” is a promising independent drama with an unusually purposeful release strategy, and a subject that could hardly be more relevant. Its most compelling idea is also its simplest: before immigration becomes a political issue, it is an experience lived by individual human beings. 

Produced by Shanti Bandaru and Deepa Nair, “QUEEN(S)” has its world premiere Thursday, September 17, 2026, at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis. The film is scheduled to continue with a week-long engagement at Emagine Willow Creek in Plymouth beginning September 18.