Documentary Production Class Explores ESL

An adult English Language Learner deep in concentration at the New Bridges Immigrant Resource Center. (Photo: Steven Stauffer)

For the past semester, EMU Visual and Communication Arts (VaCa) students have been producing a documentary about people who speak English as a second language (ESL) and their interactions with the broader Harrisonburg community. The documentary, “See Viktor Learn,” will be shown on Sunday, April 20 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Court Square Theater.

The goal of the class, according to its professor, Jerry Holsopple, is to introduce students to the experience and difficulties of the documentary world. “The first goal is educational, and they can’t really learn what it means to do a documentary without struggling through the process. I think most of the students have a lot of trouble thinking about group projects, especially when it comes to work involving aesthetics, and they need to learn that if they’re ever going to work in the documentary world.”

Sarah Luprek, who took photographs throughout the process, focused more on the subject matter of the documentary. “We were trying to portray these families as they actually are, to try and portray a few hours in the life of these people,” she said. “In some ways you can relate it to yourself, but in some ways it’s completely different, and it’s nice to try and capture that.”

VaCa professor Steve Johnson has seen work on the documentary bring out specific talents in participating students. Sophomore “Steven [Stauffer] has gone into situations where there probably wouldn’t be a lot of visual life, and he’s found that. He’s gone into classroom situations, and he’s been able to draw the relational connections between people in really compelling visual ways…. [Junior] Tyler [Grove] has been working on representations of bilingual signs in markets and the juxtapositions of cultures,” he said.