So Long Are You Young: Samuel Ullman's Poem and Passion
FOCUS: FILM ARTS FOUNDATION • The astonishing power of words is the subject of this engaging documentary. Beginning with the line “Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind,” the poem “Youth” was written in 1917 by 77-year-old Samuel Ullman, a Jewish immigrant to the US. Twenty years after its author's death “Youth” came into the possession of General Douglas MacArthur, whose framed display of it deeply impressed Japanese visitors to MacArthur's Tokyo office at the close of World War II. Subsequently spread across that then-broken nation, the poem inspired a generation thirsty for hope. Prominent businessmen still cite its influence, and it is quoted by politicians and advice columnists alike. Layered with interviews, historical footage and photographs, and a fascinating timeline of Ullman's life and that of his poem, So Long Are You Young celebrates a little-known literary sensation. — D. Quinones
Director: Judith Schaefer
Producer: Judith Schaefer
Screenwriter: Rick Goldsmith, Vivien Hillgrove
Cinematographer: Tomas Tucker, Judith Schaefer
Editor: Vivien Hillgrove, Rick Goldsmith
Print Source:
"Youth" Productions
150 Barbaree Way
Tiburon, CA, 94920
Tel: 415.388.2446
Email: judithschaefer@earthlink.net
PRECEDED BY:
No Umbrella—Election Day in the City
Director Laura Paglin
US 2006 26 MINS Election Day, 2004, Cleveland, Ohio: An irascible octogenarian city councilwoman takes on polling-place chaos, an unresponsive bureaucracy and an increasingly agitated electorate.
