Hiwwe wie Driwwe - Pfälzisch in Amerika

HIWWE WIE DRIWWE - EINE DOKUMENTATION ÜBER DIE PFÄLZISCHE KULTUR UND SPRACHE IN DER PFALZ UND IN AMERIKA.

July 2017. A Volksfest in the USA – the Kutztown Folk Festival. The people are celebrating, there is live music, presentations, traditional food and booths that sell various items.

We are somewhere in the USA, but the language sounds strangely familiar. It is the Pennsylvanian German Day – a day where people remember their Palatinate and Electoral Palatinate roots.
This is where we meet Douglas Madenford. He is a German language teacher, musician and YouTuber from Kutztown, PA. Douglas speaks Pennsylvania Dutch – a language rooted in the old Palatinate dialect from 200 years ago and throughout the years constantly extended with English words and terms. During this film Doug will take us to follow the traces of the Palatine dialect and culture in his own home as well as in his old home – the Palatinate. Throughout this journey he will meet many people who will be helping him to explore his roots. How did this dialect end up in the USA in the first place? Which aspects of the Palatine dialect and culture can still be found in the modern American life? Are there any similarities left? Doug will take us to a school where people are learning Pennsylvania Dutch. We will find traces for Palatine traditions while visiting his parent‘s farm and at a living history museum we will learn more about the people who came here from the old world. We will also stumble across further local traditions and influences rooted in the Palatinate, such as the Groundhog Day, street names, buildings, words and terms and foods. Finally, Doug will travel to Germany to find many similarities, as well as differences between the Palatinate and his Pennsylvanian home. After visiting The Museum of Emigration he will meet a Mundart artist. While visiting a local farm and a Saumagen restaurant which still cooks after one of the oldest known traditional recipe he learns more about the typical Palatine life which has many parallels to his life in Pennsylvania.

His journey through the Palatinate will highlight with him performing songs in Pennsylvania Dutch from his American home.

CINEMATIC FORM

This documentation shows the history of the Palatinates in the USA in a humorous and kind manner – just the way Palatinates
really are.
While accompanying Doug on his journey with a dynamic camera we get to know different aspects of the language
and culture, not only here in the Palatinate but also on the other side of the Atlantic. Doug portrays the main protagonist
and we experience the things from his point of view. Supporting roles include Chris LaRose, his musical partner,
and Dave Borntrager, a modern American emigrant who found his new home in the Palatinate.
The spoken languages in this documentary will, of course, include Pennsylvania Dutch and Palatine German, but also English and German, depending on the conversation.
We will be including subtitles, so that people who do not speak Palatine German dialect or Pennsylvania Dutch can also understand everything. We do not want to include a narrator – this way the spoken languages can still be heard. For historical facts we will have an interview sequence with the Palatine linguist and expert Michael Werner, PhD. We will also be working with 2D animations to visualize facts and contexts in an interesting way, including simply protagonists to illustrate the emigrants ways of live throughout the centuries.

First and foremost this film is a film from people from the Palatinate for people from the Palatinate and everyone who is interested in German language culture and history. Especially nowadays where a crisis of refugees is proclaimed and everyone is talking about the topic immigration it makes sense to look at the own history.

When we one day heard that “our” dialect is also spoken outside of the Palatinate we got instantly curious about it. Speaking to other locals we then realized that this fact is not really known around here. However everyone was at least as fascinated by it as we were. Enough of a reason for us to tackle this issue.

During our conversations with Doug we noticed that the fascination with this topic also exists on the other side of the Atlantic. Many people over there do not really know anything about their Palatine roots or the life over here.

First of all we need the money for organising the film shooting in the USA. In total we will be shooting for two weeks. Afterwards our protagonist will come to Germany. The money is needed to pay at least the flights and hotel costs.