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Mother Tongue Film Festival: We Are Still Here
February 24, 2024 | 7:00 pm–10:00 pm
FREE
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.
This program is presented by the Mother Tongue Film Festival.
Registration is encouraged.
PROGRAM
A Bear Named Jesus
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.
Runtime: 6 min
We Are Still Here
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.
Runtime: 90 min
ABOUT MOTHER TONGUE FILM FESTIVAL
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.
Where and how do we find balance? To create balance is to connect the many branches of our existence, and to connect is to reach an enduring harmony. In 2024, the Mother Tongue Film Festival will showcase films that record personal journeys and explore the drive to find balance and harmony within our world, communities, families, and selves.
