(We Will Speak) highlights the critical work of language activists, artists, youth, and elders who are now leading a growing movement of urgent radical revitalization efforts to help save the Cherokee language from the brink of extinction. The film also delves into the history of the Cherokee syllabary, the destructive assimilationist legacy of boarding schools, the lasting impacts of the Trail of Tears, and the ways in which members of the Cherokee tribe reconcile their relationship to American identity.

Shot on location in Oklahoma and North Carolina, this film explores the nuanced ways that the Cherokee language is central to maintaining a unique cultural identity and relationship with the world. This collaborative project also intends to act as an empowering agent of hope for Indigenous voices in the midst of enduring inequity and oppression.  (We Will Speak) centers Native perspectives and shows how it remains possible to continue to resist colonial monocultural influences and celebrate that which makes us unique.

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