Sam Green: The Universal Language

Sam Green presented a rough cut of this documentary at the Zamenhof Symposium at the UN in New York on 15 December 2010, the same symposium in which I spoke on the Centennial of the Esperanto Universal Congress in Washington, DC. Since then I have blogged about the forthcoming final version.

Well, the documentary has been out for some time, and can be purchased on DVD or downloaded via the Internet. In addition, Sam has a web site devoted to the documentary, with a blog and with web posts in both English and Esperanto:

The Universal Language: A Documentary Film by Sam Green

The blog is bilingual, with English and Esperanto versions of each post, which relates to some aspect of the film or to Esperanto more generally.

I translated one of Sam's original English posts into Esperanto:

Intervjuo kun Eva Soltes pri komponisto Lou Harrison
August 02, 2012

. . . corresponding to the original:

An Interview with Eva Soltes about composer Lou Harrison
August 02, 2012

I have blogged before about Lou Harrison, in English and Esperanto. I myself first encountered Eva Soltes at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, at the presentation of a documentary film about Harrison. This was the first event in a symposium about Harrison. I reported on this event (and subsequently the others) in Esperanto:

Lou Harrison: Mondo da Muziko
2011-02-28

In August viewers of Sam's film were invited to pose questions about it. Sam responded to the first round of questions. Before the month was out, I sent Sam some of my questions about the film. His responses to some of these are included in his second round of responses:

Respondoj al demandoj de legantoj II
August 30, 2012
Jen respondoj al kelkaj demandoj, kiujn vi sendis al ni

Questions from Viewers, Part II
August 30, 2012
Titles, futures, footage source

The comment about archival sources and the subsequent questions are mine. Sam provides images, video, and audio in response.

Here is some footage of the noted Andreo Cseh, of Cseh-method fame, teaching Esperanto to a class outdoors:



In response to my question about a voiceover, Sam presented a speech by the noted Esperantist orator and organizer Ivo Lapenna:

"La Kultura Valoro de la Internacia Lingvo" [The Cultural Value of the International Language] de Ivo Lapenna