Immersion

      

Ten-year-old Moises has just immigrated to California from Mexico. He doesn't speak English, but he's good at math, so he hopes to do well on his first math test in the USA.
    
Using untrained child actors from public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, “Immersion” plunges its audience into the visceral experience of a child who cannot understand his teacher. The film puts a human face on the debate about the education of English Language Learners.
    
"Immersion" premiered at the prestigious Slamdance Film Festival and won Best Bay Area short at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and the "No Violence" award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The film received a Resolution of the California Legislature, and is used by more than 50 school districts and universities to support education about English Language Learners.
     
For lesson plans and more, please visit www.immersionfilm.com.

      

Richard Levien has been writing, directing and editing award-winning films for 12 years. Levien's short “Immersion”, about a ten-year-old boy from Mexico who struggles to fit in at his new school in the U.S., premiered at Slamdance in 2009. “Immersion” won the “No Violence” award at the Ann Arbor film festival, and Best Bay Area short at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF). The film received a Resolution of the California Legislature, and is used by more than 50 school districts and universities to support education about English Language Learners. In 2009 Levien won the inaugural San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant, for screenwriting on his first feature film as a writer/director, “Collisions”. The project won three further SFFS/KRF grants, for development,  production and post production. Levien is from New Zealand. He has a PhD in theoretical physics from Princeton University.