The fate of a Japanese silent film in translation

I have one thing to say about this year's Pordenone Silent Film Festival.

!!!!!!!

OK, two things:

\o/\o/\o/

It was my first visit (it's been a banner year for film festivals, what with the Slapstick Festival in Bristol, Il cinema ritrovato in Bologna, and then the first ever Cinema Rediscovered festival in Bristol) and I can't wait to go again.

I thought I would celebrate the brilliance that was this week by sharing a snippet of film translation history that I came across recently. It's a sordid story of silent film, translation, Ireland, criminal behaviour and flammable nitrate...

In researching the distribution of foreign films in Ireland (a task made more complicated because for much of the twentieth century 'foreign films' meant anything not made in Ireland) I came across a fascinating anecdote. On Thursday 21 September 1944 Dublin's Evening Herald newspaper reported on the theft of eight reels of 'the only English translation in the world of a foreign film, entitled "The 27 Martyrs of Japan". The case was heard at the Metropolitan Juvenile court, as the film had been stolen by a fourteen-year-old messenger boy:

Five rolls of the film had been recovered by the time of this first court hearing, and three were still missing. The unnamed boy reappeared in court on 28 August 1944, at which point it was discovered that the missing rolls of film had met an unhappy fate:

The film was in fact The 26 Martyrs of Japan, which had had a long run in Ireland. As reportedly the first Catholic-themed film to be released in Japan, it was much trailed in the Irish press, and opened at the Savoy in Holy Week, 1937:

It's not clear to me yet what form the translation took (there was some talk of a lecturer alongside the film), and why the print was still in Ireland in 1944 - and indeed whether the remaining reels of that print survive somewhere - but the good news is that a version of the film did survive elsewhere and it's once again being screened.

Bursary Opportunity in Ireland for Brazilian Literary Translators in 2017

This looks like a wonderful opportunity for qualified candidates:

Bursary Opportunity in Ireland for Brazilian Literary Translators in 2017


Literature Ireland, in co-operation with the Trinity Centre for Literary Translation, Trinity College Dublin, wishes to invite applications from literary translators for a residential bursary in Dublin in the period January to May 2017.

The bursary will be awarded to a practising literary translator of established track record who is working on a translation into Brazilian Portuguese of a work of contemporary Irish literature.

Travel and living expenses will be covered by Literature Ireland, while accommodation and work space will be provided by the Trinity Centre for Literary Translation, Trinity College Dublin. The successful applicant will be asked to work closely with students on the M. Phil. in Literary Translation (1–2 contact hours a week) and to organise three public workshops/talks on contemporary Latin American literature.

The bursary will be of four months’ duration. All applicants for this bursary must provide proof that they hold a publishing contract for the work in question. Applications should include an outline project proposal, current curriculum vitae and two references (including one from a publishing house). Where possible, a sample of the translation-in-progress (approximately 1,000 words of the original) should also be submitted in support of the application.

Completed applications should be submitted by email in English to info@literatureireland.com no later than Friday, 14 October 2016. The successful candidate will be notified by Friday, 21 October 2016. For further information, contact Rita McCann, info at literatureireland.com, or Dr Sarah Smyth, ssmyth at tcd.ie.

Two Irish events for International Translation Day, Cork and Dublin, 2016

A flurry of posts, as St. Jerome's day heaves into view.
This next event looks fantastic; I wish I could go! What a dream line-up of speakers including Professors Luis Perez Gonzalez, Michael Cronin, Hilary Footitt, Lawrence Venuti and other very distinguished scholars...

There is more information at https://www.ucc.ie/en/french/translationactivism/#d.en.685554.

The event is organized by Dr Caroline Williamson of University College Cork whose article "Post-traumatic growth at the international level: The obstructive role played by translators and editors of Rwandan Genocide testimonies" was published in issue 9(1) of the journal Translation Studies.

*******************

As it happens the reason I can't go is a happy one; I will be taking part in another event on Tuesday 27 September for International Translation Day, at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. The programme is as follows:

10:45—12:30
Translation Seminar with Professor Reine Meylaerts, KU Leuven

Translation and Citizenship: 'La loi doit être connue pour être obligatoire'

Since the European democratization processes of the long nineteenth century, the very core of the legal and political potential to act as a citizen was formed by communicative resources. Communication between authorities and citizens through one (or more) national language(s) thus became of utmost importance. That is why studying language and translation policies is crucial to understand the role of language and translation in the construction of democratic citizenship. Drawing on examples from nineteenth-century Belgium, this presentation will reflect on issues of translation and citizenship and on methodological and theoretical implications for Translation Studies.

14:00—16:00, choose one of the following round tables:

1) The Work of the Professional Translator

This roundtable will discuss topics such as training, freelance v staff translator, the translation market, specialising and technology. Chair: Annette Schiller (ITIA)

2) Translation History: Why Bother?

This roundtable will discuss the function and utility of translation history, approaches to translation history, futures of translation history, interdisciplinarity and impact. Chair: Carol O'Sullivan (University of Bristol) and Alice Colombo (NUI Galway)

3) Why Translation Matters

This roundtable will look at the function and place of translation in society, its role in intercultural dialogue, its challenges and its future. Chairs: David Johnston and Piotr Blumczynski (Queen's University Belfast)

The afternoon's roundtables will be followed at 17:00 by 'Translating Anne Enright' - an event with Anne Enright in conversation with four translators of her work; Sergio Claudio Perroni (Italy), Hans-Christian Oeser (Germany), Isabelle Reinharez (France) and María Porras Sánchez (Spain). 

Click here to book tickets for the 'Translating Anne Enright' event at 17:00 on 27 September 2016.

More information on both events and booking links at https://www.ria.ie/events/translation-seminar-and-roundtables.

Polish-English translation event, Dublin, 1 Feb 2014: Antonia Lloyd-Jones in Conversation

Just seen on Facebook: this looks like a lovely event. I wish I was going to be in Dublin that day! 

Antonia Lloyd-Jones in Conversation
Dom Polski, 20 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2.
Saturday February 1st 2014, 7 pm.

The Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association, in co-operation with the Polish Embassy in Dublin and the Irish Polish Society, invite you to a public interview with Antonia Lloyd-Jones, one of the leading translators of Polish literature into English. Lloyd-Jones has translated many of Poland’s most important writers, including Olga Tokarczuk, Paweł Huelle, Jacek Dehnel, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Zygmunt Miłoszewski, Tadeusz Dąbrowski, Wojciech Tochman, Mariusz Szczygieł, Wojciech Jagielski, Andrzej Szczeklik, and Janusz Korczak.

She was the recipient of Instytut Książki's 'Found in Translation’ award in 2008 for her translation of Paweł Huelle's The Last Supper, and in 2013 became the first translator to win the award twice, this time for the totality of her output in 2012, seven books in total. Her translations of Artur Domosławski’s Ryszard Kapuściński: A Life, Jacek Hugo-Bader’s Kołyma Diaries and Witold Szabłowski’s The Assassin from Apricot City received English PEN awards, and the last of these was included among World Literature Today’s most notable translations of 2013. She is a mentor for the British Centre for Literary Translation’s mentorship programme and occasionally leads translation workshops.

Admission free – wine reception – all welcome!

The ITIA are very grateful to the Polish Embassy and the Irish Polish Society for their co-operation with this event. For more information, please contact John Kearns: kearns at pro.onet.pl.

[I notice that Antonia Lloyd-Jones has shared some excellent translation tips on the English PEN website which may be of interest to readers]