The Illegal Immigrant

2026 Subscribers: This is NOT included in your Subscription. If you'd like to purchase it, you will need to login to view your special 50% off SRP pricing. This special limited edition slipcover is limited to 1,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. Named after Yasujiro Ozu’s custom-made, tatami-level, crab-like tripod, Kani is a new home video label dedicated to leveling the gaze and furthering the understanding of Asian cinema in North America. Focused on genre-defying films, Kani aims to expand the canon, bolster up-and-coming filmmakers and reintroduce repertory classics in context. Vinegar Syndrome’s sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing this diverse and unique home video line! Mabel Cheung’s debut unfolds as the quintessential American story: that of the “illegal” immigrant, doing anything they must to survive in the so-called land of the free. After a raid on a Canal Street garment factory leaves Cheung (Ching Yong-Cho) targeted by immigration agents, the mainland refugee resorts to a sham marriage with a reluctant acquaintance named Cindy to access a green card. An NYU graduation project miraculously funded by Shaw Brothers Studio, Mabel Cheung’s The Illegal Immigrant was entirely shot on location in New York’s Chinatown, in authentic gambling parlours and video stores, amidst real-life gangsters and undocumented immigrants cast as non-professional actors. From this results a remarkable encapsulation of a time and place that no longer exists; a comic tragedy that establishes, with unusual freedom, the foundations of what would become Mabel Cheung “immigration trilogy” a short few years later with the successes of An Autumn’s Tale and Eight Taels of Gold. directed by: Mabel Cheung starring: Ching Yong-Cho, Wu Fu-Sheng, Liao Chong-Yu, Peter Lee Gui-Yuen 1985 / 98 min / 1.85:1 / Cantonese, Mandarin, Taishan, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Additional info: Region A Blu-ray Interview with director Mabel Cheung (19mins, 2026) “Bringing Cindy and Chau to Life” (7mins, 2026) Selected Scenes Commentary with director Mabel Cheung (18min, 2026) Booklet with new writing by Chiarina Chen English, English SDH subtitles