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.