Event

SLIFF - I Learn America

I Learn America
Gitte Peng & Jean-Michel Dissard, U.S., 92 min., English, Spanish, Polish, Burmese, Punjabi, & Urdu
Thursday, Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m., Webster U./Moore
In America, nearly one in four children is an immigrant or was born to immigrant parents. Classrooms confront a rapidly growing influx of students who speak little English and are unfamiliar with American culture. At the International High School at Lafayette, a New York City public school serving recent immigrant teenagers, more than 300 students from 50 countries come together in a unique educational experience. Filmed over a year, "I Learn America" is the story of five of those students: Sing (Myanmar), a refugee who left his family behind; Brandon (Guatemala), who crossed the border to America to reunite with his mother after 10 years apart; Sandra (Poland), a tomboy and class leader who's in love with Jennifer (Dominican Republic), a sassy classmate; and Itrat (Pakistan), who came to America to join a father she barely knew after the passing of her mother. With co-director Dissard.

Shown with Keep Moving (Jackie Zhou & Ravi Lloyd, U.S., 2012, 9 min.): After emigrating from Iraq, the Khalfa family adjusts to their lives as refugees in Orange County.
Sponsored by Webster University's Multicultural Studies Committee