Die Laaste Woord

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Die Laaste Woord ("The Last Word") can refer any one of two South African media works:

Die Laaste Woord, an animated film by Diek Grobler

The original text

Referred to as a poësiefliek ("poetry film"), it is an animated interpretation of a poem called Vanishing Voices by Martjie Bosman (inspired in turn by a 2002 book of the same name by Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine), in which she contemplates the loneliness of someone who has become the last speaker of a dying language. It is Bosman's response to the perceived threat that her own mother tongue, Afrikaans, may disappear.

In the film, animator Diek Grobler creates a character who literally is the last speaker of a dying language, and then goes through the world, seeking someone who can still understand her.

The idea for the film was first posted by Grobler on his Facebook page in 2016, and was selected as a concept to be pitched at the Mifa pitching session at the Annecy International Animation Festival in France on 11-16 June, 2018.

According to Grobler's later Facebook entry, the film was due for completion by the end of 2019, combining traditional and digital animation techniques such as cut-outs, drawing on paper, and 2D digital animation effects. However, in an interview with Laetitia Pople in 2021, he indicated that he could only obtain financing for it in 2020 so he hoped to have it completed by the end of 2021.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

Sources

https://www.facebook.com/diekgrobler.artist/posts/laaste-woord-working-title-is-n-animasiefilm-geinspireer-deur-n-gedig-van-martji/541120379397901/

https://www.netwerk24.com/netwerk24/kunste/flieks/poesieprent-belig-eensaamheid-van-laaste-spreker-van-taal-20210602

Beeld, 24 April 2018.

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Die Laaste Woord, a radio play by Lee Doubell

The original text

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

Broadcast on Radio Sonder Grense on 13 Mei 2021

Sources

https://www.rsgplus.org/donderdagaand-die-laaste-woord/

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