Moving Stories: Videos from the American South
First Language
A Film About the Race to Save the Cherokee Nation’s Native Tongue
Crew & Credits
Film by Neal Hutcheson and Danica Cullinan
Executive Producer Walt Wolfram
Associate Producers Hartwell Francis & Tom Belt
Run Time: 56:08
Release Date: 2014
Awards
Best Public Service Film - American Indian Film Festival
Audience Award - Red Rock Film Festival
Tar Heel Tie-In - Longleaf Film Festival
National distribution to PBS stations in 2016 via the National Educational Telecommunications Association
In 1830 the Indian Removal Act all but completely eradicated the Cherokee Nation from their homeland. Approximately 1,200 of them remained in North Carolina – while around 12,000 emigrated and an estimated 4,000 perished.
Now the Eastern Cherokees are faced with another threat to their culture. Though the Eastern Cherokee Nation is now 14,000 strong, a mere 200 are fluent speakers of their language. There’s a strong possibility that the language itself could be extinct within a mere generation.
We’re proud to show you the North Carolina Language and Life Project’s award-winning film “First Language: The Race to Save Cherokee,” the North Carolina Language and Life Project explores the unique challenge presented to this community, the threat that losing their language poses to their culture, and the measures they are taking to fight to keep their language alive.
