Esperanto and Cinema. Conclusion

Purchase from where, you ask? Well, this film and quite a number of other films with Esperanto sound-tracks can be obtained from the Universala Esperanto Asocio in the Netherlands. A list of currently available films from the UEA (plus 7 available from the Internacia Esperanto-Instituto), their prices and other information was recently published in the journal Eventoj and can be found at this link: http://www.hungary.net/esperanto/novideo...

I was interested to see that, among other titles, there is a dubbed version of the Oscar-winning film, Mefisto, and Lou Brook's production of the Esperanto translation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. And a name you will see occurring repeatedly is that of Roman Dobrzynski, a Polish film-maker who has made a great contribution to Esperanto culture. I have a copy of a film he made in 1987 to celebrate Esperanto's 100th birthday and it contains footage shot from all over the world. It's a pleasure to watch and, of course, to listen to.

However, although there is a lot on offer at the Institute, one thing that you cannot buy there is a copy of the most important Esperanto film made so far. That film is Incubus, and was made by Leslie Stevens in 1965.

Leslie Stevens, who died on April 24th last year, was a very interesting and creative individual. He was born in Washington DC in 1924 and his father was a Vice-Admiral in the US navy who later took up a diplomatic posting at the US Embassy in London. As a result of his father's career move, Leslie, at the age of 11, was exposed to a Shakespeare production at the Old Vic as a result of which he decided that he would become a playwright. As it happens, I had a similar mind-blowing experience when I saw my first Shakespeare production at the Memorial Theatre, Stratford, but there the similarity ends. Here I am, writing for Suite101, while Leslie Stevens became associated with such popular TV series as The Outer Limits, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

For more information about Leslie Steven's career in films and television, check here: http://uk.imdb.com/Name?Stevens,+Leslie+...

In the film Incubus "Stevens created an imaginary, wind-swept place called Nomen Tuum, where beautiful demons stalk the earth in search of pure souls in order to destroy them." (I am quoting from a special web site devoted to this film which can be found at http://www.incubusthefilm.com/index.html

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