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San Diego Asian Film Festival presents: Speaking in Tongues
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10th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival
The San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) is San Diego's largest and longest film festival ever. The festival started on October 15th, and runs until October 29th at Hazard Center UltraStar Cinemas with show times for various films scheduled all week. The tenth annual SDAFF continues to connect audiences with the human experience through the Pan Asain media arts. The festival has so many different film entries that there is literally something for everyone.
Film Profile: Speaking in Tongues (2008) - Directed/Produced by Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel
Today (October 24th) was the San Diego premier of American-made documentary Speaking in Tongues, which profiles the heated debate surrounding the issue of bilingual eduction in the United States. The film follows four American student's who's parents placed them in bilingual language immersion schools from their first day in kindergarten.
Julian is a middle class Caucasian eighth grader who was placed in a Chinese immersion school at a young age, and now considers the Chinese language and culture part of who he is, as a citizen of the world. Jason is a Hispanic boy whose parents are Mexican immigrants. His parents placed him in a Spanish immersion program so he could learn English without losing the language that he learned from his parents. Kelly is a Chinese-American sixth grader who is enrolled in a Chinese immersion school as a "heritage language learner." She can now communicate with her Chinese speaking grandmother better than anyone else in her family, while still be able to speak English very well. Durrell is an African American kindergartner from a low socioeconomic family, whose mother placed him in a Chinese immersion school in order to enrich his academic and professional achievement in a multicultural society.
The film focuses on the benefits and ever-growing importance of bilingual education in the United States. Even though bilingual education has been shown to expand brain capacity an opens the door for a successful career, thirty states in the U.S. have voted on an "English only" language system.
Speaking in Tongues is a well-made and touching documentary by directors/producers Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel. The film won the Audience Award for San Francisco International Film Festival.
The second and final screening of the film Speaking in Tongues will take place on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 2:15pm, at Hazard Center UltraStar Cinemas in San Diego.
Speaking in Tongues is 60 minutes long and is appropriate for all ages. Tickets are $8.00 at the box office. Watch the trailer here.
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