Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Image: AFP/Robyn Beck)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is calling on Filipinos to participate in a global poetry project by recording their own voices.
“Anyone from the Philippines interested in trying voice acting?” the Hollywood star posted on his official Facebook page last Tuesday, July 29.
“All I need you to do is read one word out loud in Filipino/Tagalog,” the “500 Days of Summer” actor explained.
The word Gordon-Levitt is asking Filipino fans to record and say in Filipino is “poetry.” Those interested can record and post their entries through https://hitrecord.app.link/6aMAZNkvt8.
The submissions will be for the “Poetry around the World” project under open-collaborative production company HitRecord, which was established by Gordon-Levitt himself back in 2010. The project is being handled by a HitRecord staff member and social media manager who goes by “emilyliv” on the company’s website.
“I love how much poetry as an art form draws upon the quirks, rhythms, and nuances of the language it’s written in. Neruda is one of my favorite poets, and reading his poems in Spanish vs. the translations in English always fascinates me — they’re beautiful in both, but the rhythms and subtle cadences are so different in the translation,” the project overview read.
“I wanted to start a project where we can collect poetry written in many different languages and see what larger projects they might spark. Maybe community members who are multi-lingual can eventually translate a few poems, and we can see how they evolve and change in the process,” it added.
Many Filipinos have already submitted their voice acting entries on the website; some submissions used “tula,” others opted for “panulaan,” while an entry for the Cebuano word “balak” was submitted as well.
Other than voice acting, the project also encourages interested participants to submit poems in their native languages.
In Gordon-Levitt’s About section on Facebook, the actor states that he directs HitRecord, “an internet thing for being creative.”
“But it’s not just about getting attention. It’s about making things with other people,” he adds. /ra
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