Where and how does one find balance? The Smithsonian's Mother Tongue Film Festival explores the connections between language, communities, and place to highlight the many ways people have found beauty through multilingual storytelling and cultural expression. The ninth annual festival will return as an in-person event from Wednesday, February 21, through Saturday, February 24, and will offer acclaimed feature films, short films, and other forms of digital storytelling, as well as filmmaker roundtables.

All events are free and open to the public, although some require advance registration. Learn more on the festival’s website, mothertongue.si.edu.

The Mother Tongue Film Festival is organized by the Recovering Voices initiative, a collaboration across Smithsonian units at the National Museum of Natural History, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Asian Pacific American Center.

Image: Frybread Face and Me (film still)
Credit: AARAY Releasing