A few months ago, my then-ten-year-old son and I filmed a short film in Esperanto and submitted it to an Esperanto film festival. (It’s really short: under 3 minutes long. And don’t worry: it has English subtitles.) It’s about Diogenes (the Greek philosopher who went around with a lantern searching for an honest man), and it’s called “Honesta homo” (“An honest person”).
I’m embedding the video below, but most importantly, please click through to YouTube and “like” (“thumbs-up”) the video there: “audience favorite” gets a special prize in this film festival! (I don’t think you can “like” a YouTube video when you watch it on this blog: click on the title at the top of the video to open it in YouTube.)
Thanks to Alexander Vaughn Miller, former vice president of Esperanto USA and indefatigable longtime organizer of this film festival (called the “Fifth American Good Film Festival“, or, in Esperanto, “La 5a [pronounced ‘kvina’] Usona Bona Film-Festivalo”). Click here to see the full set of 50 films submitted to the festival. (Alex also organizes the local Atlanta Esperantist scene—if you find Esperanto interesting and are in the Atlanta area, let me know and I’ll hook you up.)
Esperanto is the most popular of the constructed languages (and has been around longer than Klingon, Elvish, and High Valyrian), is extremely easy to learn, and is even easier to learn these days now that there’s an Esperanto course on Duolingo. (Back in 1997-98, I had to learn it using a book. Now, I’ve finished the Esperanto and Klingon courses on Duolingo.) I might go to the national congress next year in L.A., and I might also visit Esperantists next March in Białystok, Poland, where Ludwik Zamenhof, the guy who founded the language in the 1870s-80s, was born.
And remember, please click through to YouTube and “like” my video!
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