February has been full of cultural holidays, and there’s at least one more: The Smithsonian Institution is celebrating United Nations’ International Mother Language Day with a film festival.
The Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices initiative’s Mother Tongue Film Festival is bringing filmmakers from all over the world to D.C. to present film screenings, round table discussions, and panels. The four-day event’s schedule includes 23 films and audiovisual experiences from 34 countries in 62 languages, all centering on the importance of preserving the mother languages of the world.
“The Festival showcases films from around the world which are connected by the theme of the cruciality of linguistic diversity,” Smithsonian representative Becky Haberacker told DCist via email. “Through digital storytelling, the festival amplifies the work of diverse practitioners who explore the power of language to connect the past, present, and future.”
The fourth annual festival kicks off with an opening reception on Thursday, International Mother Language Day, at 6 p.m. at the National Museum of the American Indian. All events and screenings are free and open to the public.
Here’s some of the films we’re most excited for:
Set in Bhutan and spoken in the country’s Dzongkha language, this film follows Gyembo, an ordinary teenager who dreams of becoming a soccer player, as he is chosen by his father as the next guardian of his family’s monastery. Gyembo is forced to decide which path he’ll choose. The film will be preceded by a traditional Bhutanese cham performance. Directors Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó will be in attendance.
National Museum of Natural History, Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
Sgaaway K’uuna (Edge of the Knife)
Set during the 1800s on the Haida Gwaii islands off British Columbia’s west coast, this film follows two families as they embark on their annual summer fishing trip. Conflict between best friends Adiits’ii and Kwa begins to strain the two families’ relationship and tragedy strikes. Overcome with grief and guilt, Adiits’ii retreats to the rainforest and becomes a “wildman.” When the families return the following year and find Adiits’ii still alive, Kwa must choose between restoring Adiits’ii’s humanity or acting on his secret desire for revenge. Based on a traditional tale of the Haida people, Sgaaway K’uuna makes history as the first feature film entirely in the Haida language.
National Museum of the American Indian, Thursday, 7 p.m.
This documentary in English and Tongan centers on the leitis, a group of transgender women as they battle traditional religion in the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga. Viewers follow a woman in the community, Joey Mataele, as she organizes a beauty pageant, takes in a pageant contestant rejected by her family, and wrestles with evangelicals who threaten the group by attempting to resurrect colonial-era laws. Producer Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu will appear at the screening.
NYU Washington D.C., Friday, 7 p.m.
Spoken in Solomon Islands Pijin and English, this short film follows two siblings, Rosa and Kiko, who were kidnapped from their home in the Solomon Islands and sent to work on a sugar cane plantation in Queensland, Australia, during the 1800s. Kiko, the younger sibling, must learn to navigate adulthood under the oppression of enslavement while his sister Rosa works to keep her brother alive and out of trouble. The film’s director, Amie Batalibasi, will make an appearance for the festival’s Past, Presents, and Futures slate of films.
Freer|Sackler Galleries, Friday, 2 p.m.
For a full schedule of events and more information, click here.
