Berkeley – Learning a brand new language can sometimes be a hobby or a requirement, but for Brian Linebaugh it became a lifelong persecution that led him all around the world and ultimately inspired a documentary film that was recently presented at a global film festival.
The film, “Beyond words – stories from Tamil landscapes“Celebrate the wealthy traditions, art and culture of the Tamil people. It had its global premiere on the Jaipur International Film Festival in January and shall be presented on the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal in the approaching weeks.
Linebaugh, a cordoning Berkeley, had no exposure to Tamil, an Indian language that was mainly spoken within the state of Tamil Nadu, India. His first introduction to Tamil was in highschool during his last 12 months when he heard a gaggle of scholars who spoke the language but had no idea what it was.
“I didn't know exactly what they said … but it was such an exciting sounding language,” said Linebaugh in an interview with this news organization. “It's like hearing a Bebop jazz for the first time.”
In order to learn the language, Linebaugh began with books, audio tapes and Tamil movies, however it quickly realized that learning the language was a challenge. Unimpressed, Linebaugh decided to travel to Madurai, one in every of the oldest cities in India with deeply rooted Tamil culture and popularly as “city that never sleeps”.
“In 1993 I decided to go to Madurai and try to immerse myself in the city and learn the language,” said Linebaugh. “I went every summer during my basic study at California State University in Chico.”
Linebaugh found a retired Tamil Professor Dr. KV Ramakoti to show him the fundamentals of language. Then he switched a couple of summer between Madurai and Malaysia, a nation with a big Tamil community outside of India.
In Malaysia he lived and worked in a neighborhood rubber plane and learned the language faster from Tamil plantation employees.
“I did the work, I collected the rubber, I endangered the trees, I was among the workers all day. And that's why I learned a lot,” said Linebaugh.
One of essentially the most difficult points of learning Tamil for Linebaugh was the difference between the written and spoken language.
“The gap appears to be wider than that of most languages, probably because Tamil is so old and is one in every of the classic languages on the earth.
He also found Tamil's phonology most difficult.
“The concept of short and long vowels does not really exist in English. In Tamil you can get a different meaning in Tamil if you keep a vowel a little longer,” said Linebaugh. “If you compare” Poy Sonnaan “with” Poy Sonnaan “, the only difference is the duration of the” O “. The former means” he went and said: “The latter means” he has told a lie “.”
Linebaugh wrote to the UC Berkeley and bought his master's degree in 1997. He specialized in Tamil language and literature under the guidance of Professor George Hart, a Ph.D. Owner in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard University.
In 2021, Linebaugh, a knowledge architect and his wife Janaki Seetharaman moved to Florida. The pandemic finally gave the couple an apology to pursue Linebaugh's fascination for Tamil dialects.
“We went to Tamil Nadu to film a documentary about the various Tamil dialects. After three months we came home and checked the film material and tried to put together something to edit it,” said Linebaugh.
The couple, who had no experience with movies and processing, was of the opinion that it was inadequate to pay attention solely on Tamil dialects.
They expanded the project and gave themselves to the vigorous Tamil culture, traditional arts and popular performances, while embedding dialects utilized by artisans and actors.
“The Tamil dialects were more of an implicit part of the film. We no longer tried to highlight the linguistic markers of the language. Instead, we all talk about their art and culture,” said Linebaugh.
The duo returned to India to film more film material to bring regional art to life, comparable to Street games, that are often known as Therukoothu, Shadow Puppetry as Tholpava Koothu, folk dances and native handicrafts.
After months of filming and editing the 62-minute documentary was accomplished At the top of 2024. Linebaugh observes a streaming deal for the film, which might enable him to tell people about the fantastic thing about South Indian culture and to make clear people.
He also hopes that the documentary will raise awareness.
“I think the film promotes the message of unity and is a call to act for people to continue to keep these arts,” said Linebaugh. “Will there be Therukoothu or Tholpava Koothu in 50 years?”
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