To Luc Besson...

(emailed to Luc Besson via his official website, www.luc-besson.com, on July 7, 2008 at 8:06pm MST)

Hello,

My name is T. Leah Fehr-Thompson. I currently maintain a website dedicated to The Divine Language from the film, ‘The Fifth Element’. My interest in the language, and the film, is extensive, and I have worked very hard to build upon the existing sources for the language available online, and I continue to do so with the support and collaboration of other devoted fans. My interest in this ‘hobby’ has taken a turn recently, however, and I’ve developed a keen interest in publishing a book about the fictitious language. I am a published writer, however this endeavour is vastly different from my usual genre of poetry and prose. This project would be more of a text, a linguistic reference, for any fans wanting to learn the Divine Language. I’ve already worked up sections on pronunciation, numbers, dates and an extensive dictionary/thesaurus, basing my knowledge and research on that of others and my own study and speculation. The book, itself, would be for entertainment purposes only, and it would be considered an unofficial guide to the language created by Luc Besson and Milla Jovovich, of course, since I do not have access to the original language and translations that were developed for the film.

My concern is, of course, copyright infringement, which I do not want to be guilty of under any circumstances. I’ve done my best to credit any and all sources on my website, and would also within the book, however I am unfamiliar with copyright law, therefore I am contacting you. It was suggested that I contact Columbia/Sony Pictures, but I am unsure on how to go about doing that.

Please know that this endeavour is of a personal nature, and is not something that I seek to do for any kind of substantial profit. I would be covering all publishing costs independently, and making the book available to fans on my website(s) only, with little or no commercial assistance or advertisement. As stated, this is a hobby for me, albeit a passionate one.

Please advise if this is something that I can pursue, what my limitations are, or if I should abandon the idea completely.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

T. Leah Fehr-Thompson

www.thedivinelanguage.com
www.quillandpalette.com