NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

During the pandemic lockdown on Guam, I was feeling at various points, like so many, stressed and anxious about the world and what was happening and what might happen. I was fortunate to still have a job during the lockdown, and because of technology like zoom and social media, I could still keep up my community work, by teaching classes in the Chamoru language and also history. I also was able to keep up with Fanachu! the podcast for Independent Guåhan. Because of so many people sheltering at home, our audience grew exponentially. One thing that I found myself doing more, like most people with a certain level of privilege and comfort, was watching more things online, on laptops and on my phones. Movie theaters were closed, but Netflix and Youtube were always open, so long as I had data on my phone and wifi in the home. As most people were locked down, sheltering in place, only encouraged to go out and explore for essential tasks or errands, things in general started to shift to becomi

The film American Soil, Chamorro Soul premiered last week at the University of Guam Film Festival. The documentary is currently on sale through the website Chamorro Film . Head there to watch it online or purchase a DVD. I'll be posting more about the film as I was involved in the filming of it as an informant and a consultant. It is a very interesting and exciting short documentary about contemporary Chamorro culture. Below is an article about the film and the director Jessica Peterson. *********************** Where Does America's Day Begin? by Amanda Pampuro Guam Daily Post April 3, 2016 From cultural resurgence to sustainability, healthcare and tourism, the documentary short “American Soil, Chamorro Soul” raises a number of questions. Painting “intimate portraits of Chamorro people living their culture,” the film features master dancer Frank Rabon leader of Tao Tao Tano, carver Ron Acfalle as he rebuilds the ancient proa as best he can, and Audrey Meno who

“Chamorro: The Movie” by Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Guam Daily Post September 16, 2015 How many people remember the movie “Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon?” It was directed by cult film-master Albert Pyun and starred Richard “Shaft” Roundtree, David “Kung Fu” Carradine and Carmen “just in one scene” Electra. It was shot in Guam in 2004 lauded locally as “Hollywood coming to Guam!” The filmmakers promised to help create a new film industry on the island and tempted local leaders with the idea that “if we film it, they will come” or once the world sees “Max Havoc” on the big screen, people will be lining up to film their movies on Guam. Local businesses and GovGuam threw money and support at the film, eager to expedite the Hollywood celluloid rush that was on the horizon. This was all soon proved to be ludicrous. The film made no money and was never even screened in a theater. It eventually became the object of a huge lawsuit between GovGuam and the filmmakers. I’ve long

Several years ago the Muna Brothers started a website called Guamology. It was a pretty cool website, even if it only lasted for about a year. It had regular columns and features about Guam cultural activities and current events. I was a regular writer for it and some of my favorite pieces that I've written recently were conceived initially as articles for Guamology. The Muna Brothers would conduct regular interviews with people they felt were making a difference or had a positive and inspirational message to share. One such interview was with David Khorram, who wrote the book World Peace, A Blind Wife and Gecko Tails, drawn from a series of columns he did for the Saipan Tribune. If you haven't had a chance to read it, you can find copies of it had Bestseller and sometimes the UOG bookstore. On his blog Marianas Eye, he posted the transcript of that interview that you can read below.  ********************** Guamology Interview David Khorram Marianas Eye August 7, 2

“The Talented Island of Guam” by Michael Lujan Bevacqua July 31, 2014 The Marianas Variety If you didn’t get a chance to watch “Talent Town,” the latest film from the filmmaking duo The Muña Brothers this past month, you really missed out. The film was an engaging and exciting take on the state of art and creativity in Guam today and a call for both artists and their audience here to take things to the next level in terms of representing Guam. Full disclosure, I am one of the people featured in the film and so I do have some positive bias towards it. The Muña Brothers are known for their work on “Shiro’s Head,” which is considered to be the first Chamorro/ Guam-movie. Other movies were filmed on Guam before “Shiro’s Head,” but this was the first one that took the island’s identity, especially its Chamorro heritage seriously. Whereas other films such as “Noon Sunday” and “Kaiju-ta no Kessen Gojira no Musuko” just used Guam as just a backdrop and bas

Guam is truly fortunate to have its own international film festival. It is even more fortunate that it has been able to enjoy this festival for three years in a row now. But it is the most fortunate of all, and I don’t think we realize it enough, that we have people here who are willing to take on the task of organizing the festival and making it a reality for the community. The 3 rd Guam International Film Festival, titled “Beyond the See” took place last week. All in all, the festival offered over 45 films from across the world and took place over 6 nights at the Agana Shopping Center. The trailer for the film festival invoked the word “passion.” The more films I watched and the more I interacted with both audience members and filmmakers, the more I could feel this passion. Filmmaking, especially in this small-scale, grassroots form is a very delicate and personal art. For many filmmakers, it is something they want to do, hope they can do, but struggle to find ways to su

I was racking my brain recently to determine what was the first ever Chamorro song that was featured in a motion picture. Noon Sunday was the first every motion picture to be filmed primarily on Guam, prior to that some minor filming had been done on Guam for World War II and Godzilla films but nothing substantial. Noon Sunday was not set in Guam, but it was the first film to feature extensively the island of Guam. Guam was the locale for a fictional Pacific island that was being taken over by a menacing Asian power. Almost all the speaking roles went to people from off-island (from the US or the Philippines), and Chamorros ended up playing most of the "extra" roles. As a result the film didn't feature any Chamorro music. You do find documentaries and television programs, all locally produced that feature Chamorro songs of at least Chamorros singing songs. Guam's History Through Songs, made by the late Carmen Santos is a perfect example of this. For those of you u