Marie's Dictionary from Go Project Films on Vimeo.
'In the progression from one generation to the next, there is the danger of losing much of the culture that came before it. Customs fade, traditions die out. And, in the case of Marie Wilcox - the last fluent speaker of a Native American dialect - an entire language is on the verge of becoming extinct.
Director Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee from Go Project Films captures Marie Wilcox’s efforts to archive her native Wukchumni language in this poetic short documentary created last year for the New York Times’s op-docs program.
Considering this is a documentary that’s about the recording of words and letters, it’s surprisingly emotional. For while Marie’s physical dictionary is the ostensible focus of the film, really this is a story about generations - about mothers and daughters. Language becomes a way to reconnect bonds between family members - a link that binds everyone together.' Ivan Kander