Mother Tongue

The documentary short MOTHER TONGUE chronicles the first time a film has been translated and dubbed into Maya-Ixil, the native language of the Guatemalan indigenous group that was targeted by the State-sponsored genocide in 1982-83. Told from the perspective of Matilde Terraza, a young emerging leader from the Ixil community and coordinator of the translation project, the film brings to light the profound connection between language and collective memory, unleashing raw emotions that turned the process of translation into gripping personal catharses for the participants.