Name: Mother Tongue Film Festival: We Are Still Here
Start: 2024-02-24T19:00:00-06:00
End: 2024-02-24T21:45:00-06:00
Location: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Ring Auditorium

Welcome to the DCAAN community calendar! Below you will find events and programs with accessibility services in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Please note, the system automatically gives an end time of one hour after the start time. Please contact the organization hosting the event for true end times.

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The week's events

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Frybread Face and Me

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
February 21, 2024

The Smithsonian’s Mother Tongue Film Festival celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity by showcasing films and filmmakers from around the world, highlighting the crucial role languages play in our daily lives.

For our opening night, we are pleased to present Billy Luther’s first narrative feature, “Frybread Face and Me,” followed by a Q&A with one of the film’s protagonists, Charley Hogan (Navajo).
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“Frybread Face and Me” (dir. Billy Luther, 2023)
Two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona, learning more about their family’s past and themselves.

Content warning: For mature audiences. Contains coarse language.
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Accessibility at the Mother Tongue Film Festival:
All films are fully open captioned or subtitled in English. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided for Q&As and discussions. All venues are wheelchair accessible.

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian - Rasmuson Auditorium

4th Street and Independence Ave SW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: Regeneration

7:00 pm – 9:15 pm
February 22, 2024

Stories of loss, revelation, and recovery can lead us on the path to restoring a sense of wholeness. In this program, youth confront generational trauma and seek to break through for a brighter future. Following the screening, stay for a Q&A with director Xun Sero.

Registration at the link below is encouraged.
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“Mother’s Tongue” (dir. D. Wilmos Paul, 2022)
Junior, an African teenager ashamed of his accent, enrolls in a creative writing club hoping he can make it through the semester without speaking… until he’s faced with his worst fear.

“Mamá / Mom” (dir. Xun Sero, 2022)
In this deeply moving dialogue between a mother and son, Tzotzil director Xun Sero confronts his past with honesty, understanding, and forgiveness. Content warning: For mature audiences.
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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Ring Auditorium

Independence Ave SW &, 7th St SW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: Reclaiming Knowledge

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
February 23, 2024

As a result of colonization, much Indigenous knowledge was destroyed or extracted, with many sacred objects finding their way to museums overseas. How can Indigenous scholars and communities reclaim their patrimony and reconnect with the knowledges embedded in their objects? We’ll explore questions of return and reclamation in this film and the Q&A that follows with the director and Ñuu Savi cultural experts.

Registration at the link below is encouraged.
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“Ñii Ñu’u” (dir. Omar Aguilar Sánchez, 2022)
The Ñii Ñu’u, or sacred books, are codices that contain the history and worldview of the Ñuu Savi people (People of the Rain, or Mixtec people). Today, none of the surviving Mixtec codices are in the hands of the community. After 500 years, director and scholar Omar Aguilar Sánchez has interpreted the codices based on the knowledge of his own language and culture, teaching communities how to read the codices, offering workshops, and recreating the pictorial writing to support their identity, with practical implications for the community in the creation of an official logo.
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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Q?rius

10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: Redrawing the Lines

2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
February 23, 2024

How can we find balance when on opposing sides? Can we build spaces for listening and leveling the playing field? A discussion with director Francisco Huichaqueo will follow the screening.

Registration at the link below is encouraged.
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"I Am Home" (dir. Kymon Greyhorse, 2022)
This poetic memoir is a love letter that speaks of introspection and what it means to rediscover who you are and cherish where you come from.

"Künü" (dir. Francisco Huichaqueo, 2022)
Mapuche and Chileans have always been in conflict. So how will they live together? First, by getting to know each other. Once the field is leveled, a conversation can begin. This film presents a crisp portrait of the process behind an architectural structure that aims to start a conversation.
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Smithsonian Natural Museum of Natural History - Q?rius

10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: Memory and Renewal

4:00 pm – 6:15 pm
February 23, 2024

We invite you on a poignant journey through identity and cultural revival. These films paint a vivid portrait of the struggles and triumphs in reclaiming Indigenous languages. "Grape Soda in the Parking Lot" and "ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (We Will Speak)" each uniquely testify to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of erasure, highlighting the vital role language plays in connecting us to our past, present, and future. Join us for an evening screening that reflects on and celebrates the power of memory and words to create change.

Registration at the link below is required.
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Grape Soda in the Parking Lot (dirs. Megan Kyak-Monteith, Taqralik Partridge, 2023)
What if every language that had been lost to English—every word, every syllable—grew up out of the ground in flowers? The Scottish Gaelic of Taqralik Partridge’s grandmother and the Inuktitut of her father unfold in memories of her family, of pain, and of love.

"ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (We Will Speak)" (dirs. ᎤᎶᎩᎳ/Schon Duncan, Michael McDermit, 2023)
The Cherokee language is deeply tied to Cherokee identity, yet generations of assimilation efforts by the U.S. government and anti-Indigenous stigmas have forced the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes to declare a state of emergency for the language in 2019. While there are 430,000 Cherokee citizens in the three federally recognized tribes, fewer than an estimated 1,500 fluent speakers remain—the majority of whom are elderly. The COVID pandemic has unfortunately hastened the course. Language activists, artists, and youth now lead efforts to use and hear Cherokee again in daily life.

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Planet Word - Friedman Family Auditorium

925 13th St NW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: Bridging Worlds

7:00 pm – 9:15 pm
February 23, 2024

In this program, two films intersect at the crossroads of love and resistance. "Aikāne" and "Y SŴN" illustrate the spiritual connections that can be formed and the cultural ties that can be broken in the fight against political repression. Though artistically varied, both display the transformative power of commitment, be it to a person or a cause, iterating the fight for identity as a universal narrative. Join this evening screening, followed by a Q&A, and celebrate the indomitable spirit of humanity in its many facets.

Registration at the link below is required.
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"Aikāne" (dirs. Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, 2023)
A valiant island warrior, wounded in battle against foreign invaders, falls into a mysterious underwater world. Everything changes when the octopus who rescues him transforms into a handsome young man.

"Y SŴN" (dir. Lee Haven Jones, 2023)
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher swept to power in 1979 with a manifesto that promised to establish a Welsh-language television channel. Months into her premiership, she reneged on her promise and sparked protests in Wales. Against a backdrop of civil disobedience, the iconic politician Gwynfor Evans vows to starve to death unless the government changes course. In "Y SŴN," one of the most colorful chapters of modern Welsh history is told in an imaginative and unique style.
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Planet Word - Friedman Family Auditorium

925 13th St NW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: Sustenance (Shorts Program)

11:00 am – 1:45 pm
February 24, 2024

These collected shorts from around the world explore different dimensions of finding sustenance—whether through connecting to place and kin, cooking and eating food, or different forms of artistic expression. Evoking the many dimensions and transformations in these ongoing practices, these films reveal the various ways humans connect to their world. Stay after the films for a Q&A with attending directors.

Registration at the link below is encouraged.
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"Imalirijit" (dirs. Vincent L’Herault, Time Anaviapik Soucie, 2021)
Tim is a young father living in Pond Inlet, Nunavut. As his grandfather did before, he wants to start his own study of water quality to benefit his community. Tim embarks on an inspiring research journey that will lead to empowerment and cultural revitalization. The experience becomes an awakening for Tim and his team, harboring a wind of change and adaptation for this community of the Canadian Arctic.

"Bhaskar Chitrakar: Painting Kalighat Moderns" (dirs. Matthew Raj Webb, Ihaab Syed, Rohan Sengupta, 2024)
This audiovisual portrait of hereditary artist and man of leisure Bhaskar Chitrakar explores his painting style that reimagines a centuries-old, mixed-media tradition of religious idol representation at Kolkata’s Kalighat temple.

"Wa’yûna" (dir. Serena Mosquito, 2023)
Bring your appetite for learning and get ready to blend up some fun! Serena Mosquito whips up a smoothie while speaking in Euchee, a linguistically distinct language spoken in Oklahoma. Equal parts humor and culinary delight, this student film is as charming as it is educational, yielding a heartwarming cultural tribute.

"Ekbeh" (dir. Mariah Hernandez-Fitch, 2023)
While learning to make gumbo from her grandparents, Mariah Fernandez-Fitch draws out their personal stories as a way to honor and preserve their Indigenous history and life.

"Mutsoóngo Malaávu" (dir. Rosa Vieira, 2023)
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, palm wine tapsters play a key role in Yoómbe village life. Palm wine is an alcoholic beverage, drawn from the top of the oil palm, associated with the ancestors. Limber climbers extract this ancient drink to share among family, friends, and guests.

"Burros" (dir. Jefferson Stein, 2021)
Set in southern Arizona, twenty miles from the Mexico border in the Tohono O’odham Nation, a six-year-old Indigenous girl (Amaya Juan) discovers a Hispanic migrant her age who has lost her father while traveling through the tribal lands into the United States.

"Silt" (dir. Emilie Upczak, 2022)
A botanist grieving the death of a beloved aunt travels alone to northern Mexico, where she is nourished by images of the last trip they took together, traversing the Colorado River.

"A Bata do Milho / Corn Beat" (dirs. Eduardo Liron, Renata Mattar, 2023)
In Serra Preta of Bahia, a region of northeast Brazil with a distinctive dialect, the families of rural workers keep the tradition of work songs alive. They cultivate corn in traditional ways and come together in a joint effort throughout all stages of cultivation, including pounding the corn. Each step in the process has songs, rhythms, and festivities that emerge to manage and brighten the work process.

"Nhakpoti / Star Girl" (dirs. Pat-i Kayapó, Paul Chilsen, 2023)
Mêbêngôkre-Kayapó youth and elders reenact the story of how agriculture was brought from the heavens to their community. The Mêbêngôkre-Kayapó people live along the Xingu River in northwest Brazil, amid more than 27 million acres of rainforest. The film is the first narrative video project by the community of A’Ukre, created in collaboration with elders and the Mêbêngôkre filmmaking collective.
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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Baird Auditorium

10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: Hidden Letters

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
February 24, 2024

Nüshu, a clandestine language created and used solely by Yao women in Hunan Province, offers a unique legacy that unites its practitioners. Delving into the lives of women in modern China bound by the once-secret script, "Hidden Letters" is a poignant exploration of female bonds and the generational echoes of gendered oppression in China. The documentary artfully portrays two women’s journeys as they grapple with the complexities of independence and traditional expectations that both define and confine them. Join us for this inspiring screening followed by a Q&A with director Violet Du Feng, diving deeper into Nüshu’s enduring legacy.

Registration at the link below is encouraged.
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"Hidden Letters" (dirs. Violet Du Feng, Qing Zhao, 2022)
Watch the bonds of sisterhood—and the parallel struggles among generations of women in China—that are drawn together by the once-secret written language of Nüshu, the only script designed and used exclusively by women. Two millennials try to balance their lives as independent women in modern China while confronting the traditional identity that defines but also oppresses them.
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Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art - Meyer Auditorium

1050 Independence Ave SW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: The Wind & the Reckoning

3:00 pm – 5:15 pm
February 24, 2024

What lengths would you go to keep your family together? Inspired by real-life events, "The Wind & the Reckoning" explores Native Hawaiians’ stand against government-mandated exile due to leprosy. This film is a powerful statement about the dynamics of resistance and is a point of reflection on the dislocation caused by disease and settler-colonialism in Hawai‘i. Stay after the film for a discussion with Smithsonian curator Halena Kapuni-Reynolds.

Registration at the link below is encouraged.
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"The Wind & the Reckoning" (dir. David L. Cunningham, 2022)
As an outbreak of leprosy engulfs nineteenth-century colonial Hawai‘i, a small group of infected Native Hawaiians resist government-mandated exile, taking a courageous stand against the provisional government.
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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Baird Auditorium

10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW

Washington, DC,

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Mother Tongue Film Festival: We Are Still Here

7:00 pm – 9:45 pm
February 24, 2024

Join us for a ceremonial drum blessing closing out our festival, leading into our final film screenings. How does one find balance in the wake of disruptive events? We explore this process through two films that use humor and empathy to make sense of the experience of colonialism and survivance. Each film is a multilayered exploration of the power of telling and retelling stories as a way of finding balance.

Registration at the link below is encouraged.
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"A Bear Named Jesus" (dir. Terril Calder, 2023)
At Aunty Gladys’s funeral, Archer Pechawis heard a tap on the window. It was a bear named Jesus, and Jesus had come for Archer’s mom. Now she’s no longer recognizable—while Jesus hangs out in the shed.

"We Are Still Here" (dirs. Beck Cole, Dena Curtis, Tracey Rigney, Danielle MacLean, Tim Worrall, Renae Maihi, Miki Magasiva, Mario Gaoa, Richard Curtis, Chantelle Burgoyne, 2022)
Ten leading Indigenous filmmakers from Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and the South Pacific craft a compellingly original and insightful anthology film in response to the 250th anniversary of a historically celebrated colonizer’s invasion of their lands.
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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Ring Auditorium

Independence Ave SW & 7th St SW

Washington, DC,

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Calendar

The week's events

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Frybread Face and Me

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Regeneration

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Reclaiming Knowledge

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Redrawing the Lines

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Memory and Renewal

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Bridging Worlds

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Sustenance (Shorts Program)

Mother Tongue Film Festival: Hidden Letters

Mother Tongue Film Festival: The Wind & the Reckoning

Mother Tongue Film Festival: We Are Still Here