Mother Tongue Film Festival: Feature Film

Saturday, February 21, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

$0.00 | Friedman Family Auditorium

Planet Word is proud to again host the Smithsonian Institution’s Mother Tongue Film Festival. Celebrating cultural and linguistic diversity, the films being shown at Planet Word showcase languages and filmmakers from around the world and the richness they bring to our lives.

Through digital storytelling, the Smithsonian’s Mother Tongue Film Festival amplifies the work of diverse practitioners who explore the power of language to connect the past, present, and future.

Formas de atravezar el territorio (Ways to Traverse a Territory)
(Mexico, 2024) Director: Gabriela Domínguez Ruvalcaba, Spanish and Tsotsil with English subtitles

Do we belong to a place, or does a place belong to us? In the Chiapas Highlands of Mexico, Tsotsil families tend to their sheep while honoring the memory of their land. An encounter with the film’s director reveals a longing to recognize different ways of inhabiting the same territory. This intimate portrait captures the women’s efforts to preserve local sheep breeds, maintain their connection to the Tsotsil language, and nurture agricultural traditions across generations. (Runtime 79 minutes)