A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND feature-length documentary in Jèrriais about the past, present and future of the language will have its first showing at this year’s 13th Parish Film Festival next month, it has been announced.
The film, titled À Bétôt Goodbye?, features an intimate look at the ancient native language and follows the voices of its last native speakers and their fight to preserve it.
It will be screened with subtitles at the Jersey Art Centre from 5.40pm on Saturday 23 May.
The documentary was produced by Ben Spink, head of Jèrriais delivery at L’Office du Jèrriais, which made the documentary in collaboration with film-making company Little River Pictures. It was co-directed by Annigna and Tom Kennedy.
Mr Spink said: “It is the story of the Jersey language and of the people who spoke it who are still alive today. It is important to tell their story.
“There is a lot of talk about the decline of the language – that it is unavoidable, it’s an organic thing – but that is not the case. It happens when another language squeezes it out. I wanted to tell that story.”
He explained that the film explored how Jèrriais came “perilously close to being lost”, while at the same time showing the people behind the growing movement to help revitalise the Island’s native language.
However, the documentary is also described as a “rallying cry” to the “new generations” of “enthusiastic learners and speakers” to “take up the challenge and ensure the precious language can thrive once again”. Mr Spink added it was never too late to start learning Jèrriais, as he began teaching himself it at 39 years old while he was teaching the language to children. “I have people telling me ‘I wish I could have learnt it when I was young’, and I tell them my story,” he said.
Professor Mari Jones, a specialist in Norman French and founder of the Cambridge Endangered Languages and Cultures Group, will be joining the film-makers for a discussion on the documentary and the importance of the language.
The 13th Parish Film Festival will also be showing 11 short films by local producers – two of which are also in Jèrriais – with the first screening at 6pm on Friday 22 May and the second on Sunday 24 May at 3.30pm, at the same location.
Tickets are now on sale for all the screenings from the Jersey Art Centre box office or website. A full programme is available on the 13th Parish Film Festival website.
