ESL: More Than a Language
Columbus, Ohio | Film Feature
Documentary, Global Celebration
ESL programs are essential for fostering inclusive communities and empowering immigrants. By challenging misconceptions, we can highlight the resilience and contributions of ESL learners, showcasing their determination to integrate and thrive.
ESL: More Than a Language
Columbus, Ohio | Film Feature
Documentary, Global Celebration
1 Campaigns | Ohio, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $9,292 for festivals. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
25 supporters | followers
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ESL programs are essential for fostering inclusive communities and empowering immigrants. By challenging misconceptions, we can highlight the resilience and contributions of ESL learners, showcasing their determination to integrate and thrive.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Our Story and Our Why
There are 51 million immigrants living in the U.S., making up 14% of the total population. Of these, nearly 46% are Limited English Proficient (LEP)—which means they struggle with access to essential needs like employment, healthcare, and education. The result is often poverty, isolation, and invisibility.
We believe language should never be a barrier to belonging. That’s why we’re creating a powerful and human-centered film to drive awareness, empathy, and action—spotlighting the ESL (English as a Second Language) community in the U.S.
When we heard the stories of these four immigrant families, we were compelled and moved as filmmakers to tell them in a way that moves the American people to view their neighbor differently—as strong, resilient human beings who have a very basic need.
Asma: Despite the promise of opportunity, Asma looked out the window of her new American home with fear. A muslim woman like me could never be welcome. This isolation would be broken by the unlikeliest friend: a Jewish woman, a volunteer at Asma’s English class, who opened her eyes to the goodness that can be found anywhere.
Gloire: Driven from his home in the Congo by tribal war, Gloire lived most of his childhood in the refugee camps of Burundi. He spent his days like so many children: learning in school, playing countless games of soccer, and gazing in fascination at rare passerby airplanes. But when happenstance brought his family to Ohio, the new relationships he formed and resources he found became the stepping stones to make an aviation dream a reality.
Ayat, Khawla, & Jameel: Ayat believed life in America was the hope for her children’s futures, so she and her family left everything to pursue it. Years of struggle passed, each nearly driving the close-knit family to surrender and return to Jordan. Just when their endurance was at an end, their ESL community brought the support they needed to reach for each of their dreams.
The Lopez Family: Life in Venezuela was great and prosperous for Brise, Boris, and their daughters. But when political turmoil turned the country upside down, the Lopez family was forced to leave behind their high-profile, successful careers for a seven-hundred square foot apartment and the daily struggle to provide. An unlikely ESL program laid the foundation for making America their second home.
Filming these stories has changed our both our perceptions and lives as filmmakers. We aim to give that same experience to as many people as possible through this film.
This project is more than a film—it’s a call to change minds, behaviors, and systems. Through storytelling and education, we aim to:
- Showcase the resilience and value of ESL learners and educators
- Raise awareness about the importance of comprehensive ESL programs
- Equip communities with practical ways to support their immigrant neighbors
- Encourage policy and structural changes that enable immigrants to thrive
By highlighting both learners and those who support them—teachers, volunteers, organizations—we’re building a guide on how to be a good neighbor in a multilingual, multicultural America. This film is a tool for sparking conversations, bridging cultures, and creating real impact. Together, we can help build a society where language differences are met with compassion, not barriers.
Using Campaign Funds
With these campaign funds, we plan to help fund our film festival circuit run and marketing campaign. Our desire is to bring our immigrant families with us to our festival premiere, as well as allow them to sit on panels should they wish to continue to tell their story and advocate for more comprehensive ESL resources. We also desire to hire more staff for our Impact Producer to make our impact campaign and action plan more robust: reaching out to more ESL resources across the country and helping them serve more people.
Stretch Goals
With 3% of our funds going to our nonprofit partner, Festa, we’re helping support their vision of establishing full-family ESL programs in every major U.S. city—reaching hundreds of thousands more English learners. Additional funding will help bring this goal to life as our film premieres next year, further amplifying these stories and highlighting just how vital these resources are for our communities to thrive.
Release of Film
We are currently submitted to over 15+ film festivals for the first half of the year, including Sundance, Slamdance, HotDocs, Social Justice Film Festival, South by Southwest, and more. We are anxiously awaiting their decisions and plan to release our festival premiere in our email newsletter. From there we will host screenings nationwide and work on a distribution plan that gets this important message out to as many people as possible! We hope for a public release in late 2026.
Sharing this film!
We have plenty of ways you can help us spread the word about this film.
- Follow us on social media! Help grow our following and thus our reach. Our Facebook and our Instagram are here.
- Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date at www.esldocumentary.com
- Share this in your networks! Partner post with us on social and/or send out a communication to your network about our film: A group of immigrant families, newly arrived in the U.S., confront a core human need: the ability to communicate. Limited access to language education leaves them navigating a world full of barriers. But through courage, community, and the support of full-family ESL programs, they discover something more profound — lifelong friendships and a renewed sense of belonging. ESL: More than a Language is a documentary coming out in 2026 about the powerful transformation of immigrant families when they're provided the right resources to learn English.
________________________________________
Your donation is tax-deductible! ESL is a fiscally sponsored project of the International Documentary Association (IDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions in support of ESL are payable to IDA and are tax-deductible, less the value of any goods or services received, as allowed by law. The value of goods and services offered is noted under each donation level. If you would like to deduct the entire donation, decline the reward at checkout.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Talent Travel
Costs $5,000
Our wish is to provide travel and lodging for 1 or 2 of our talent to experience a film festival and present their unique story during it.
Impact Producer Assistant
Costs $5,000
Our wish is to provide an assistant for our Impact Producer to increase our campaign's growth and support internal tasks.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Our desire as filmmakers is to highlight real stories of ESL-learners to showcase not only their history and how they came to be in this country, but also their determination and resilience to integrate – and ultimately thrive – in an English-speaking culture.
This is a debut film for director Jonathan Barlow. Producers Taylor McClintock, owner of GP Creative, and Toby Zuniga-Shaw have years of experience tellings testimonial stories and highlighting real, human experiences. Executive Producer Jack McClintock, with Thread Media House, brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to the project and is one of the leading visionaries for the film. Executive Producers Kim Emch and Lydia Emch are leaders of the non-profit Festa, whom have found incredible success in serving over 1,100 ESL-learners by offering a full-family ESL program in Columbus, OH.
Our Impact Producer, Tamarra Campbell, has helped us to establish and activate our vision for this documentary's impact: 1) for minds to be changed when faced with another who does not speak their language. 2) to expand access to comprehensive ESL resources by empowering community leaders to support multilingual families through programming that serves three-generations of language learners. 3) to create sustainable, inclusive programs that promote equitable access to education, services, and meaningful relationships.
As a group of predominantly white filmmakers telling the stories of a diverse range of people, we recognize the need for a highly thoughtful and ethically responsible approach to this documentary. Our role, as a resourced entity intruding into the lives of immigrant families in the U.S., demands that we consciously distance ourselves from a Western-centric perspective. This requires uncovering and addressing implicit biases that could influence storytelling and hinder the building of genuine empathy.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Our Story and Our Why
There are 51 million immigrants living in the U.S., making up 14% of the total population. Of these, nearly 46% are Limited English Proficient (LEP)—which means they struggle with access to essential needs like employment, healthcare, and education. The result is often poverty, isolation, and invisibility.
We believe language should never be a barrier to belonging. That’s why we’re creating a powerful and human-centered film to drive awareness, empathy, and action—spotlighting the ESL (English as a Second Language) community in the U.S.
When we heard the stories of these four immigrant families, we were compelled and moved as filmmakers to tell them in a way that moves the American people to view their neighbor differently—as strong, resilient human beings who have a very basic need.
Asma: Despite the promise of opportunity, Asma looked out the window of her new American home with fear. A muslim woman like me could never be welcome. This isolation would be broken by the unlikeliest friend: a Jewish woman, a volunteer at Asma’s English class, who opened her eyes to the goodness that can be found anywhere.
Gloire: Driven from his home in the Congo by tribal war, Gloire lived most of his childhood in the refugee camps of Burundi. He spent his days like so many children: learning in school, playing countless games of soccer, and gazing in fascination at rare passerby airplanes. But when happenstance brought his family to Ohio, the new relationships he formed and resources he found became the stepping stones to make an aviation dream a reality.
Ayat, Khawla, & Jameel: Ayat believed life in America was the hope for her children’s futures, so she and her family left everything to pursue it. Years of struggle passed, each nearly driving the close-knit family to surrender and return to Jordan. Just when their endurance was at an end, their ESL community brought the support they needed to reach for each of their dreams.
The Lopez Family: Life in Venezuela was great and prosperous for Brise, Boris, and their daughters. But when political turmoil turned the country upside down, the Lopez family was forced to leave behind their high-profile, successful careers for a seven-hundred square foot apartment and the daily struggle to provide. An unlikely ESL program laid the foundation for making America their second home.
Filming these stories has changed our both our perceptions and lives as filmmakers. We aim to give that same experience to as many people as possible through this film.
This project is more than a film—it’s a call to change minds, behaviors, and systems. Through storytelling and education, we aim to:
- Showcase the resilience and value of ESL learners and educators
- Raise awareness about the importance of comprehensive ESL programs
- Equip communities with practical ways to support their immigrant neighbors
- Encourage policy and structural changes that enable immigrants to thrive
By highlighting both learners and those who support them—teachers, volunteers, organizations—we’re building a guide on how to be a good neighbor in a multilingual, multicultural America. This film is a tool for sparking conversations, bridging cultures, and creating real impact. Together, we can help build a society where language differences are met with compassion, not barriers.
Using Campaign Funds
With these campaign funds, we plan to help fund our film festival circuit run and marketing campaign. Our desire is to bring our immigrant families with us to our festival premiere, as well as allow them to sit on panels should they wish to continue to tell their story and advocate for more comprehensive ESL resources. We also desire to hire more staff for our Impact Producer to make our impact campaign and action plan more robust: reaching out to more ESL resources across the country and helping them serve more people.
Stretch Goals
With 3% of our funds going to our nonprofit partner, Festa, we’re helping support their vision of establishing full-family ESL programs in every major U.S. city—reaching hundreds of thousands more English learners. Additional funding will help bring this goal to life as our film premieres next year, further amplifying these stories and highlighting just how vital these resources are for our communities to thrive.
Release of Film
We are currently submitted to over 15+ film festivals for the first half of the year, including Sundance, Slamdance, HotDocs, Social Justice Film Festival, South by Southwest, and more. We are anxiously awaiting their decisions and plan to release our festival premiere in our email newsletter. From there we will host screenings nationwide and work on a distribution plan that gets this important message out to as many people as possible! We hope for a public release in late 2026.
Sharing this film!
We have plenty of ways you can help us spread the word about this film.
- Follow us on social media! Help grow our following and thus our reach. Our Facebook and our Instagram are here.
- Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date at www.esldocumentary.com
- Share this in your networks! Partner post with us on social and/or send out a communication to your network about our film: A group of immigrant families, newly arrived in the U.S., confront a core human need: the ability to communicate. Limited access to language education leaves them navigating a world full of barriers. But through courage, community, and the support of full-family ESL programs, they discover something more profound — lifelong friendships and a renewed sense of belonging. ESL: More than a Language is a documentary coming out in 2026 about the powerful transformation of immigrant families when they're provided the right resources to learn English.
________________________________________
Your donation is tax-deductible! ESL is a fiscally sponsored project of the International Documentary Association (IDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions in support of ESL are payable to IDA and are tax-deductible, less the value of any goods or services received, as allowed by law. The value of goods and services offered is noted under each donation level. If you would like to deduct the entire donation, decline the reward at checkout.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Talent Travel
Costs $5,000
Our wish is to provide travel and lodging for 1 or 2 of our talent to experience a film festival and present their unique story during it.
Impact Producer Assistant
Costs $5,000
Our wish is to provide an assistant for our Impact Producer to increase our campaign's growth and support internal tasks.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Our desire as filmmakers is to highlight real stories of ESL-learners to showcase not only their history and how they came to be in this country, but also their determination and resilience to integrate – and ultimately thrive – in an English-speaking culture.
This is a debut film for director Jonathan Barlow. Producers Taylor McClintock, owner of GP Creative, and Toby Zuniga-Shaw have years of experience tellings testimonial stories and highlighting real, human experiences. Executive Producer Jack McClintock, with Thread Media House, brings a wealth of experience and wisdom to the project and is one of the leading visionaries for the film. Executive Producers Kim Emch and Lydia Emch are leaders of the non-profit Festa, whom have found incredible success in serving over 1,100 ESL-learners by offering a full-family ESL program in Columbus, OH.
Our Impact Producer, Tamarra Campbell, has helped us to establish and activate our vision for this documentary's impact: 1) for minds to be changed when faced with another who does not speak their language. 2) to expand access to comprehensive ESL resources by empowering community leaders to support multilingual families through programming that serves three-generations of language learners. 3) to create sustainable, inclusive programs that promote equitable access to education, services, and meaningful relationships.
As a group of predominantly white filmmakers telling the stories of a diverse range of people, we recognize the need for a highly thoughtful and ethically responsible approach to this documentary. Our role, as a resourced entity intruding into the lives of immigrant families in the U.S., demands that we consciously distance ourselves from a Western-centric perspective. This requires uncovering and addressing implicit biases that could influence storytelling and hinder the building of genuine empathy.