I Learn America (2013)
The children of immigration, here to stay, are the new Americans. How we fare in welcoming them will determine the nature of this country in the 21st century and beyond. The International High School is a New York City public school dedicated to serving newly arrived immigrant teenagers, with more than 300 students speaking two-dozen languages from 50 countries. The students strive to master English, adapt to families they haven't seen in years, confront the universal trials of adolescence, and search for a future they can claim as their own. In "I Learn America," five resilient immigrant teenagers come together over a year at the International High School at Lafayette and struggle to learn their new land. Through these five vibrant young people, their stories and struggles, and their willingness to open their lives and share them with us, we "learn America."
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Fantastic!
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
I learn America. Why? We need to understand first what America is, it is a country of multiculture and multinational. Who is American? Everyone and nobody as everyone can be traced back to some other nationality. The story of this documentary is about kids who came to united states for a better life, for their family and for their life. Why it is interesting to watch for me? Because I just started living here and I feel the words that came out of these children voice. They miss their home, they work hard and they have problems with their documents. Some love to play, some to study further; some face marriage as obstacle, some money, some loneliness. A genuine view of the American Dream of 2nd generation of Immigrants.
I just attended a screening of this at the Nantucket Film Festival and had a chance to meet 3 of the students featured in the movie. It is by far the best film I've seen at this year's festival.The film portrays many immigrant students but concentrates on several who are from Burma (Myanmar), the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Pakistan and Poland. The film gives a look at their academic, social, and family life switching back and forth between each. The film gives a great look at how immigrants struggle to fit in and some of the culture shock that can occur.Given the subject matter being in the spotlight in US politics at this time, this film will shed light on the subject in more ways than the news media is able to. I predict this film will be a strong contender for the "Best Documentary" Academy Award.