Illegal Immigrant Blu-Ray Standard Edition

Regular price $44.78
Regular price $55.98 Sale price $44.78
Collection:
Format: BD
Year: 1985
Director: Mabel Cheung
Genre: Drama
Cast: Ching Yong-Cho, Wu Fu-Sheng, Liao Chong-Yu, Peter Lee Gui-Yuen
Runtime: 98
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin, Taishan, English
Release Date: 2026-05-26

***THIS IS THE STANDARD EDITION AND DOES NOT INCLUDE A SLIP COVER*** 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.

  • 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