Sunday, August 2nd 1998

When the School stays at Home

by Marina Aizen

(Excerpt)

A film experience

When Fernanda Rossi found out that the Borenstein-Burd family were teaching their children at home, she could hardly believe it. "It was like learning that a letter of the alphabet didn't exist." But then, little by little, the Argentine documentarian researched homeschooling until she felt ready to start shooting a film which made her look even into her own childhood and school education.

At the moment, Rossi is finishing "Inventing a Girl: An Experience in Homeschooling," a 50 minute documentary in English that portrays the experience of Lily Borenstein-Burd, a girl who has never been to school.

In this way, the Argentine, the first graduate of Film Production at the Buenos Aires University, explores the life of a family in a movement that is changing the education in America.

Rossi says she approached the experience without preconceived ideas, trying to understand the new alternative trends in education. The documentarian also works as a film editor in New York while trying to touch both North American and South American audiences with her project.

© Clarin, 1998.