373. Release of Exemplar

373

Release of Exemplar

24 October 2021

To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

373.1 We are pleased to inform you that the film commissioned by the Universal House of Justice to mark the Centenary Commemoration of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has now advanced to a stage where a provisional copy can be shared with you. The film, titled Exemplar, will have a running time of 56 minutes and, as was mentioned in the message dated 25 November 2020 from the House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the world, is a portrait of the Person of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It will be released up to a week prior to the Commemoration of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for use on that occasion or during the activities associated with the centennial event. It is envisaged that, following the Centenary Commemoration, this film may continue to be used on an individual and collective basis for a wide range of purposes, including during the upcoming series of conferences to be held throughout the world. Of course, the film will have an enduring utility in many endeavours of the community into the future.

373.2 Translation of the film can now commence for those National Spiritual Assemblies that wish to prepare a subtitled version, use the voice-over technique to dub the film, or both. In order to assist with the preparation of local-language versions, a low-resolution version with English subtitles, together with the full transcript in English and relevant technical information, has been made available through a website…. Over the next two weeks, the official translation of the full transcript in Arabic, French, Persian, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili will be made available through the same website. High-resolution, subtitled, and voice-over copies of the film as well as a file with a design for the DVD cover will also be uploaded to the website once they become available; kindly check the website periodically.

373.3 A week before the Commemoration, the completed film, including all of the language versions prepared at the Bahá’í World Centre, will be made available for National Assemblies to view or download on the Bahai.org website, in a number of formats to suit different needs. At that point, versions in other languages will need to be finalized by relevant National Assemblies and steps immediately taken to prepare for the widespread dissemination of the film, for example through copies on DVDs or flash drives….

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat