Joseph Gordon-Levitt invites Filipinos to try voice acting in int’l poetry project

“500 Days of Summer” actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has invited Filipinos to record their own voices and participate in an international poetry project.

“Anyone from the Philippines interested in trying voice acting? All I need you to do is read one word out loud in Filipino/Tagalog,” the actor said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. 

In the link Joseph shared, the project called “Poetry Around the World” asked for individuals to record themselves saying “poetry” in their own native language. 

After the actor posted his request, multiple Filipinos have sent in their submissions, with some saying it as “tula” and others as “panulaan.”

Apart from recording the many translations of the word “poetry,” the project encouraged individuals to send poems in their own languages.

Created last week, “Poetry Around the World” hoped to collect poems in different languages.

“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.

The “Poetry Around the World” project is handled under the online collaborative media platform HitRecord founded by Joseph himself. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News