After returning to her childhood home in Lima before its demolition, a young woman discovers photographs her mother took of the Indigenous teenager from Ayacucho who raised her after losing her parents during Peru’s internal armed conflict. As she searches for the woman she once called mother, she confronts the unequal relationship that bound their lives together.

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Mother Tongue is a feature film inspired by the woman who raised me after losing her parents to political violence. Growing up, our relationship often felt closer to that of a mother and daughter than that of a caregiver and child, despite the unequal structure that brought us together.

Production company: Res