selchieproductions:

Trailer for the film Lost Words

The story of American Indians who must overcome the traumas inflicted by US policies as they fight to save their endangered languages.

Lost Words tells the story of Amber, Conrad, Yellow Otter, and S. Neyooxet Greymorning among other American Indians who are engaged in saving endangered languages. Through them we learn of how language is used to perform ceremonies and to express cultural identity. We also learn of the government push to eradicate American Indian languages and how the traumas experienced affect Indigenous peoples today.

Professor Greymorning, a determined and energetic professor, blazed a trail for others who are committed to saving dying languages by contacting Disney Studios and convincing them to rerelease the classic film “Bambi” in the Native American language, Arapaho. Now he continues to fight for language revitalization as he shares his teaching methodology, Accelerated Second Language Acquisition (ASLA), with Indigenous groups around the world.

No one knows what the fate of endangered languages will be. One thing is certain though. If we truly cherish a diverse world, we must fight to keep dying languages and cultures from going extinct.