"The Linguists" Premieres at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris

Documentary film highlights endangered languages in Siberia, India and Bolivia

“The Linguists,” a documentary produced with major funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has continued to win recognition since premiering early in 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The film dramatizes the kind of work involved in reaching indigenous communities and documenting their languages. It premieres Feb. 21 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in conjunction with “International Mother Language Day,” an annual observance intended to promote multilingualism worldwide.

In addition, “The Linguists” will be broadcast 10 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 26, on PBS stations. (Check local listings.)

Over the past year the film has played at international documentary film festivals and been featured in the Filmmakers@Google series on You Tube.

It also received the Youth Award at the first International Science Film Festival (Mostra Internacional de Ciencia e Cinema), a cultural event organized by Friends of the House of Sciences Association (Asociación de Amigos da Casa das Ciencias, AACC), in Galicia, Spain, in October 2008. This festival aims to promote and popularize science-related films and documentaries. The film was judged by a youth jury consisting of young people 16-17 years old from several schools in Galicia.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.