Conlanging: The Art of Crafting Tongues

Conlanging: The Art of Crafting Tongues is a 2017 documentary film about conlanging – the hobby of constructing artificial languages and the people who make them. The film features conlangers David J. Peterson^[1] (Dothraki and High Valyrian from Game of Thrones), Marc Okrand^[1] (Klingon from Star Trek) and David Salo^[1] (consultant on Tolkien's languages, particularly Sindarin, for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies), as well as Paul Frommer, linguistics professor and creator of Na'vi,^[2] and Christine Schreyer (Kryptonian from Man of Steel), anthropologist at the University of British Columbia, who hopes to be able to apply conlanging methods to endangered languages.^[3] The film also looks at the history of the hobby and modern-day conlangers. While the film was made available for online purchase in 24 August, a premiere was held on 22 July at the University of Calgary's Plaza Theatre.^[2][4] Production began in 2015, and received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, but the film's future was secured through an Indiegogo campaign that raised $25,000 during August 2016.^[5] The Language Creation Society provided $3,000 worth of funds towards the film and held an interview with Watkins.^[6]