As a result of colonization, much Indigenous knowledge was destroyed or extracted, with many sacred objects finding their way to museums overseas. How can Indigenous scholars and communities reclaim their patrimony and reconnect with the knowledges embedded in their objects? We’ll explore questions of return and reclamation in this film and the Q&A that follows with the director and Ñuu Savi cultural experts.

—

Ñii Ñu’u (dir. Omar Aguilar Sánchez, 2022)
The Ñii Ñu’u, or sacred books, are codices that contain the history and worldview of the Ñuu Savi people (People of the Rain, or Mixtec people). Today, none of the surviving Mixtec codices are in the hands of the community. After 500 years, director and scholar Omar Aguilar Sánchez has interpreted the codices based on the knowledge of his own language and culture, teaching communities how to read the codices, offering workshops, and recreating the pictorial writing to support their identity, with practical implications for the community in the creation of an official logo.

—

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.

The festival is a public program of Recovering Voices, a collaboration between Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and the Asian Pacific American Center.