Immersion's new blog address

The blog for Immersion has now moved to http://immersionfilm.tumblr.com/.

Thanks

Winnipeg Yiddish Women’s Reading Circle

A big thank you the Winnipeg Yiddish Women’s Reading Circle who have agreed to translate Immersion. Please note their other translation Arguing with the Storm: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers .

UNESCO’s Audiovisual E-platform

One of the last things I added to the script before sending it off was that all the images on screen were rich and saturated. I remember being asked what all that was about and I said "Well languages are.....colourful." Robyn probably thought I was crazy but nevertheless that detail is part of the film. Of course visually colours bring mood and vibrancy to an image and the same can be said for words. What a schmuck!!! I love that word. It’s a word where even if you don’t know what it means you know the person saying it isn’t feeling much love for you. You also get to both screw your face while saying the sch sound and a nice uck to boot or at least the way I say it.

I was reminded of it in a good way and hopefully I’m not being one now as I tell you, pre-emptively perhaps, that I’ve been in contact with the Winnipeg Yiddish Women’s Reading Circle. They’re on UNESCO’s Register of good practices. They may be translating Immersion into Yiddish for me so watch this space. I’m hoping to get translations of Immersion into several endangered languages. I’ve been looking at Ainu, Ket, Scots Gaelic among others for translation. Hopefully the communities will be as excited as I am about the project. The translations should be going up as podcasts to download as and when they come in. It seems so rare to be able to listen to the languages.

It’s been a good day all round. The film received very positive comments from Rut Gomez Sobrino, Head of the Audiovisual Department, at UNESCO’s Audiovisual E-platform. Their remit is to promote culturally diverse audiovisual content. I’m sending over a DVD and hope for the best.

The Foundation for Endangered Languages

Let me just start off by giving a big thank you to Christopher Moseley at The Foundation for Endangered Languages who is doing a piece on the film in their newsletter which comes out in December.

One of the things I would like the film to do is to raise awareness for endangered languages. Film is an excellent medium for this. Over the coming months I’m going to try to promote it using a variety of methods. I’ll be writing about them on this site and letting you know how I get on.

Robyn Woolston, director extraordinare, has put up a few versions. You can find the film on http://www.vimeo.com/user2326028%20and%20robynwoolston.com
Stay Tuned!!

Immersion

Immersion is a short film about endangered languages. I first heard the phrase a long time ago while reading an article about a philanthropist whose work involved publicising the cause. It was one of several documentary subject ideas I researched while on a Short Film Production course at WFA in Manchester. I finally had the opportunity to film it as a finalist Screenwriter for First Take in Liverpool where I worked with a wonderful Director, Robyn Woolston. It was screened in Blackpool earlier this year.

When I first conceived to write this film I considered straigtforward interviews with the relevant participants, linguists, speakers of the endangered language etc. This would have been an excellent concept but I felt the subject could be dealt with more purposefully using the most individual aspect.

Language

Language is complex, abstract and beautiful. We use it to convey emotions, during conflict, at our happiest, loneliest, for religion, culture and more. When it disappears it’s not just this obscure tool that is lost but people and their perspective on things, their thoughts, their lives and history.

The film is written as if an endangered language had come alive. How would it see its fate? How would it react to the forces and attractions of more dominant languages? Luckily this view allowed me to bring in the more abstract nature of language.

One of the initial phrases said by Lema, the endangered language is
"I searched in the usual places, tried to jog my memory and retraced my steps."
Where and how can you find a lost/endangered language?

Here is the wonderful Immersion. I hope the film is as poetic, lyrical and thought provoking as its subject.