Recovering Voices

04/08/2025

Language Reclamation featured at this year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival July 2-7, 2025

02/28/2025

The Mother Tongue Film Festival continues until tomorrow March 1st! Visit www.mothertongue.si.edu for the remaining online programs today and tomorrow, before we close the tenth annual festival for the year. Many thanks to all who have attended in person and joined us online, thank you for supporting these films and film makers!

Learn more about the films in the ongoing virtual festival

02/24/2025

The Mother Tongue Film Festival continues this week from Monday February 24 - Saturday March 1, 2025: https://mothertongue2025.eventive.org/welcome

We invite viewers around the world to enjoy a series of streaming films that have screened in past years of our festival. Each day, from midnight to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, a new selection of films will be available.

To access these films, viewers can visit the Mother Tongue Film Festival website and pre-order their selections - all screenings are free and available to the public. As a screening becomes available, you will receive an email reminder and have 24 hours to begin watching. Once you click "Watch now," you will have unlimited access for 48 hours. Check out the program today!
https://mothertongue.si.edu/

02/22/2025

If you're experiencing Mother Tongue Film Festival FOMO this weekend, fear not! Join us starting Monday Feb 24 for the digital retrospective online screenings of the Mother Tongue Film Festival of years past.

From February 24 through March 1, 2025, 19 of our favorite hand-selected films will be available online. The collection features films covering a wide range of themes including Indigenous futurism, storytelling, and language revitalization.

To access these films, viewers can visit the Mother Tongue Film Festival website and pre-order their selections, all screenings are free and available to the public. As a screening becomes available, guests will receive an email reminder and have 24 hours to begin watching. Once they click "Watch now," they will have unlimited access for 48 hours.

To view and pre-order films for this festival, visit https://watch.eventive.org/mothertongue2025

More information on the Mother Tongue Film Festival www.mothertongue.si.edu

02/20/2025

Today, we open the tenth annual Mother Tongue Film Festival. For ten years, the Mother Tongue Film Festival Committee has come together to showcase some of the most talented, creative, passionate and inspiring filmmaking in the world. From our small beginnings in 2016 with a team of five, to today, our meaningful partnerships across the Smithsonian Institution and the filmmaking community worldwide are what have enabled us to reach this festival milestone.

This year is no exception. After months of preparations, with the Mother Tongue Film Festival Committee meeting each week from across the country, we have maintained focus on what brings us together and why we do this each year, to make today possible. We hope you join us in coming together this year—for the first time, or for the tenth time—for film, mother languages and the joys, sorrows and inspiration they will leave you with.

Opening the festival tonight is “Singing Back the Buffalo,” screening at 7:00 pm Thursday, February 20, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. The film will be followed by a Q&A with the award-winning filmmaker Tasha Hubbard. We hope to see you there. www.mothertongue.si.edu

02/19/2025

Mother Tongue Film Festival starts tomorrow!! View the program and schedule: mothertongue.si.edu

02/14/2025

❤️Do you LOVE Film?❤️We love film. 🎬 Forget flowers 💐and fancy gifts🎁this Valentine's Day, instead show your love for film! The tenth annual Mother Tongue Film Festival opening night is on Thursday, February 20, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian at 7:00pm followed by programming at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and NYU Washington, D.C., on Friday and Saturday. The in-person segment wraps up on Sunday, February 23, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Join us online from February 24-March 1 as we celebrate a decade of Mother Tongue, we invite viewers from around the world to enjoy a series of streaming films that have screened in past years of our festival. Each day, a new selection of films will be available.

The Mother Tongue Film Festival is organized by Recovering Voices, a collaboration between the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and Smithsonian Folklife. All screenings and activities are FREE and open to the public. Learn more: mothertongue.si.edu

02/13/2025

Find Your Voice. Change the World.

These are the messages “Uproar” evokes. If you’re craving a film that leaves you feeling inspired, motivated and reminiscing about the 80s, all set against the spectacular backdrop of New Zealand, pencil “Uproar” into your Saturday, February 22, plans. It will screen from 12 to 2 pm in the Baird Auditorium at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History as part of the tenth annual Mother Tongue Film Festival (which is running in-person February 20-23 and online February 24-March 1). Join us! Full program available online: www.mothertongue.si.edu

02/11/2025

Get your tickets! 🎟 🎥

If you’re attending the upcoming Mother Tongue Film Festival from Feb 20-23, 2025, in Washington, D.C., be sure to secure your free tickets for the Friday programs. The Friday Feb 21 afternoon program, “Reflecting on Returns: Fifty Years of the Human Studies Film Archive,” runs from 1 to 3 pm at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The evening program, “Gwledd (The Feast),” takes place from 7 to 9 pm at NYU Washington, DC. Both require advanced tickets and have limited seating. All other events do not require tickets. Book today! Tickets available on the Mother Tongue Film Festival website: www.mothertongue.si.edu

02/07/2025

The determination of one can change everything. At this year's Mother Tongue Film Festival, we see this striking lesson demonstrated in “Kūkini,” a short film on Hawai’i’s 1970s inter-island warfare. Blending invigorating scenes of combat and award-worthy displays of Hawai’i’s Indigenous culture, this film was filmed completely in ʻŌlelo Hawai’i, Hawai’i’s Indigenous language.

Come see "Kūkini" and other films at The Mother Tongue Film Festival from February 20-23 in person and February 24-March 1 online. Mark your calendars! www.mothertongue.si.edu

02/03/2025

It’s February and that means the Mother Tongue Film Festival! The full schedule is now live! In just seventeen days, the festival begins (In-person from February 20-23 in Washington, D.C., and virtual from February 24-March 1).

Opening night will be held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian at 7 p.m. with “Singing Back the Buffalo.” The screening will be followed by a live Q&A with the filmmaker, Tasha Hubbard. Check out the full program: www.mothertongue.si.edu

01/31/2025

Reminder! Our 2025 Call for Proposals for our Community Research Program closes tomorrow January 31, 2025! We look forward to reviewing your applications. If you missed this year, remember to try again for the next call, November 15, 2025!

APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED to January 31, 2025!
We are thrilled to announce the 2025 Call for Community Research Program proposals. Eligibility and application requirements are available at www.recoveringvoices.si.edu Applications are accepted November 15, 2024 - January 15, 2025. Email us at [email protected] with any questions.

02/21/2024

Today is and to celebrate we are hosting a 4-day Mother Tongue Film Festival from Feb 21-24 across the Smithsonian and Washington DC, featuring 26 languages in 23 films from around the world as well as several film makers, actors and directors. Many events are filling up, so get your tickets reserved today! All events are free and open to the public.

We start tonight at 7pm at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, seats are first come first serve. Charley Hogan from the feature film, Frybread Face and Me, will be joining us for Q&A and autographs after the film. Check out the full schedule: https://mothertongue.si.edu

02/14/2024

Do you know your love language?? Or, like us, do you simply LOVE languages? Join us next week for the ninth Annual Mother Tongue Film Festival to experience 27 languages in 23 films from February 21-24, 2024 across the National Mall. Check out the full schedule and get your tickets now! ❤️🩷💜🩵

The Smithsonian’s Mother Tongue Film Festival celebrates cultural and linguistic diversity by showcasing films and filmmakers from around the world.