"Inglés" - Short Film

Our Short Film is Based on a True Story... hopefully it can open up dialogue for Bilingual Education in Public Schools.

Since the 1960s, studies have shown that the best time to begin the study of a foreign language is in elementary school. Because children at this age show a better mental flexibility, more creativity, divergent thinking, listening and memory skills, it enables kids to process language early on.

The Center for Applied Linguistics discovered that most countries have mandatory foreign language requirements for children beginning at eight years old. However, in the United States, most students do not begin to learn another language until ninth grade, or the age of fourteen.

“Studying another language, any other language, will help you understand the issues faced by Americans who speak languages other than English, will help you understand the immigrant experience, may help you understand your neighbor, your family, or yourself. And look at the world: America is less isolated […] and the world is more interconnected than ever.” ~ Rutgers-Camden

FIGHT OR FLIGHT Trailer

To date, SURGE is the only festival to have accepted our short suspense film, "Fight or Flight". It is a simple movie, shot in a few hours by four friends, with a Digital 8 camcorder and an MP3 recorder. It is, first and foremost, a throwback to thrillers by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles (with a touch of early Robert Rodriguez).

However, it is also a movie that needed to be made. In the last four years alone, we've seen rising extremism, even in the supposedly enlightened Western world. It is becoming all too common for people to be harassed, assaulted, even murdered by various parties, just for wanting peace and compassion in the world. While "Fight or Flight" was made as a response to the Tea Party's violence, and the police brutality of the Toronto G20 summit, it can also speak to the Occupy movement, the Norway terrorist attack, the Arab Spring, and countless other actions.

So "Fight or Flight" is a testament to not only how important it is to say these things, but how easy it is for anyone with imagination to say them.