Mark Shlomchik

We Will Speak

The Cherokee language is deeply tied to Cherokee identity; yet generations of assimilation efforts by the U.S. government and anti-Indigenous stigmas have forced the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes to declare a State of Emergency for the language in 2019. While there are 430,000 Cherokee citizens in the three federally recognized tribes, fewer than an estimated 2,000 fluent speakers remain—the majority of whom are elderly. The covid pandemic has unfortunately hastened the course. Language activists, artists, and the youth must now lead the charge of urgent radical revitalization efforts to help save the language from the brink of extinction.

Freeland

Forced to go legal, an outlaw pot farmer fights to preserve her way of life.

The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills

This experimental documentary contrasts the daily life of a nanny in buzzing Berlin with the tranquil existence of a group of pensioners in provincial Poland. A reflection on female biographies that draws a line between the beginning of life and its end.