Alastair Cole - International Translation Day 2017 (Colours of the Alphabet Film)

Colours of the Alphabet Film Website: http://coloursofthealphabet.com
Film Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColoursOfTheAlphabetFilm/
Film Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlphabetFilm

Hi, my name is Alastair Cole,

I'm a documentary filmmaker
based here in Scotland.

It's a pleasure to be here today
to celebrate

International Translation Day 2017,

and to talk to you about Amara as well,

which is, of course, a wonderful platform
for subtitling and translation.

As part of my role as a filmmaker,

subtitling and translation
is such a pivotal part to what I do.

Specially as I make films,
and at the moment,

I'm making a film about languages,
about the subject of language,

including a recent project,
a feature documentary project

called, "The Colours of the Alphabet",

which I'm going to talk
a little bit about now,

because subtitling and translation
have been so pivotal and so fundamental

to how this film is made.

Those in it, those with me on it,

without them I wouldn't be able
to have made the film.

The film is a feature documentary,

it released last year
at the Glasglow Film Festival,

and it's been turned around
festivals and cinemas around the UK,

and in Europe and Africa, since then.

It's the story of three children
in a village in Zambia,

in a village called Lwimba.

It's a story of language and politics
in education, if you want, and childhood.

It follows the children for 12 months
at their first year of school.

And there's a school in the community,

where the community speaks
one language, called Soli,

the region and the teacher speak
another language, called Nyanja,

and they all must learn English,

because English is the only
official language of Zambia,

despite there being
72 different languages,

and only less than 2% of the population
speak English at home.

So, of course, it's a film about
this political dynamic,

but at the same time, it's a film
about childhood, and it's funny,

and it'a film that, hopefully,
we can all relate to at times,

and it reminds us of those days
at school and their difficulties,

but of course,

for someone that is going to school
in a different language completely,

these difficulties are really highlighted
and exasperated, if you want.

But within the filmmaking process,
subtitling and translation is fundamental.

We used multicolored subtitles in the film

to represent the changes
in the different languages

that are going on in the classroom,
and in somewhere like Zambia.

This multilingualism is incredible,
it's very impressive, but of course,

conveying it to a non-indigenous
African-language-speaking-audience

is often difficult, and it's often
not taken as a priority.

But for us it was a priority,

so we used a creative approach
to subtitling, if you want, in the film,

that you can see in the teaser
at the end of this video.

Soli, one of the languages, is orange,
has orange subtitling,

Nyanja has green subtitling,
Bemba has pink subtitling,

and English has white subtitling.

And this technique has been able to foster
more conversation, and hopefully,

a greater understanding
about this multilingualism that exists,

this beautiful multilingualism that exists
and the complexities and the skills

which so many people
across the continent embrace this.

And I suppose,
within the documentary more broadly,

subtitling and translation
is so important, and my team --

and is my team for this film
that I talk about.

My team of subtitlers
and translators in Zambia,

Suwilanji Ngambi, Peter Lupiya,
and Brighton Lubasi were so important,

and without them
I wouldn't be able to make the film.

And also my team in the UK,
Elena Zini and those in Screen Language,

who helped to bring the film
to international audiences,

and creating
foreign language versions of the film.

But more generally,
a documentary film having translation

and translators that work seriously
on approaching it,

to understand the importance
of representing someone,

that language can be misconstrued
and misunderstood in translation

isn't taken seriously, is so important.

I think documentary filmmaking
provides a specific case, sometimes,

because people and the film
that an audience can see and hear

are real people before and after the film,

and so, their accurate representation
is so important,

and their understanding of them
as people is so important.

I think translation and subtitling
can do a wonderful job there

to help audiences around the world

experience different culture
and languages, but also, at the same time,

understand people
in the best way possible.

I suppose I also want to mention
a new project that we're working on

around "The Colours of the Alphabet",

but the release of
"The Colours of the Alphabet"

in early next year across Africa,

where it'll be broadcasted into
49 different countries with Afridocs.

And as part of the broadcast
we're working with Amara

to create 25 indigenous language versions
of the film.

It's a really exciting project for us

because, of course, we want the film
to travel across Africa,

is where the film is made,

is where, hopefully,
the film speaks to a lot of audiences.

But, at the same time,

it's important that the film is seen
in the languages of the audience,

that is the end goal of the film,

but we also want people to be able
to understand it in their terms.

So, we're going to be working
in the next months

with indigenous language
subtitlers and translators

to create 25 different language versions.

We're going to be offering them
the opportunity to train and work with us,

and at the end of the day,

for people to be able
to subtitle and translate this film,

and hopefully, foster what can be
one of the first

Africa-wide-film-translation-network.

So, keep an eye on that,
keep an eye on the website below,

coloursofthealphabet.com

but also on our Facebook page,

and you'll see more announcement
about this exciting project.

And before we go, you can watch
a teaser at the end this film

and finally, another big, happy
International Translation Day!

And a message of thumbs up

to all the ones who are subtitlers
and translators working out there.

Thanks!

[music]

[music]