Calendar

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. In 2025, we celebrate the festival’s tenth year with ten days of free programming: in person in Washington, DC, February 20–23 and online February 24–March 1.

All films are open captioned or subtitled in English, with the exception of the closing film, "WINHANGANHA." American Sign Language interpretation will be provided for Q&As and discussions. All venues are wheelchair accessible.

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11 am–12 pm
Film screenings: "Miss Campbell: Inuk Teacher," "Radio Bingo," "The Queen’s Flowers," "Mintsita, Landscapes and Interfered Breaths," "Winimaku Ara Papa Wiimatjaraku"
How do we remember our human and more-than-human relations? What are the legacies we wish to remember? Join us for this collection of family-friendly shorts that prompt us to think about our lives in relationship to others and the world around us.

12:30–1:30 pm
Film screening: "A’-t’i’ Xwee-ghayt-nish (Still, We Live On)"
Language is the cordage that binds us to our identities and connects us to deeper wells of knowledge and understanding. Across the world, Indigenous communities continue leading grassroots efforts to revitalize their languages using innovative technologies and creative teaching methods. Join us as we learn more about the work taking place in Northern California to raise new generations of Tolowa language speakers in "A’-t’i’ Xwee-ghayt-nish (Still, We Live On)." Stay after the film for a Q&A led by Mary Linn, curator of language and cultural vitality at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

2–4 pm
Film screening: "Eallogierdu (The Tundra Within Me)"
After living for many years in Oslo, Lena moves back to Sápmi in Northern Norway with her young son to explore Sami gender in an art project. While researching in the wintry tundra, she falls in love with reindeer herder Máhtte—whose mother, the head of the family, disapproves of the relationship. As decisions from the past come to haunt her, Lena struggles to find out whether her and Máhtte’s lifestyles can ever be compatible.

4–6 pm
Film screening: "As Noites Ainda Cheiram a Pólvora (The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder)"
In the aftermath of Mozambique’s civil war that lasted from 1977 to 1992, the filmmaker visits his grandmother, confronting fading memories and blurred lines between truth and fiction. A former rebel’s presence in the village echoes the ghosts of war, mirroring the tensions of his generation. Shot extensively at night, the film interweaves his grandmother’s recollections with sequences of villagers reenacting harrowing events, combining performance and autoethnography to capture the feeling of a place still grappling with the past.

7–8:30 pm
Experimental screening: "WINHANGANHA"
Accessibility notice: This archive-based artwork is not captioned; some film excerpts are subtitled in English, others have no sound or translation. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided for the virtual Q&A following the screening.

"WINHANGANHA" (“remember, know, think” in the Wiradjuri language) is a lyrical journey of archival footage and sound, poetry, and original composition. It is an examination of how archives and the legacies of collection affect First Nations people and wider Australia, told through the lens of acclaimed Wiradjuri artist Jazz Money. Presented by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.