Island Time (2022): Cultural revival in the Mariana Islands

Sophia Perez is not, strictly speaking, a screenwriter under the terms by which most of the women featured in this book are screenwriters. Rather, she is of the new generations, who have been brought up in a world mediated by screens. Her project Island Time is an exemplar of the way in which the generations beyond the Baby boomers – particularly those dubbed Millennials – are ‘digital natives’ who are able to harness the power of images and sound for their own purposes without extensive training before they begin. This project exemplifies the ways these generations harness the power of digital filmmaking to make films for specific audiences, with whom they connect via social media. The story of the making of Island Time is one where a young woman was able to work within non-profit organizations and governmental structures to bring to fruition a project intended to make a significant contribution to the cultural revival of her community – in this case, the Chamorro people of the Mariana Islands. As is increasingly the case in a digital world, Island Time was not made with any intention to distribute the pilot to television networks or cinemas. The programme was designed to reach audiences through bespoke screenings to localized and diasporic audiences among communities within and outside of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and via social media outlet, YouTube. Importantly, the chapter traces the need for such a cultural and language revival through describing the context of the people of the Marianas. The Chamorro Islanders are among the first peoples to inhabit the western Pacific. Since making the islands their home, these Oceanic people have been colonized by successive regimes. Over almost 500 years, the Chamorro people have lived under four different colonizing nations. It is this history that contextualizes the need for films that preserve and teach the language and culture of the Chamorro people to Chamorro youth. In part, the chapter is about the present-day colonization of minds and identity, and the struggle – which is ongoing – for First Peoples across the globe to retain their culture and language in the face of globalization and technologization. The chapter also raises the issue of social media as both a colonizing influence, and as a site for the contestation of identity, culture and language in the digital age. Indeed, there are many lessons to be learned from Island Time beyond the question of the preservation of a language and culture that have adapted and survived despite a history of colonization.

Keywords: Chamorro language ; colonization ; Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ; cultural revival ; Island Time: Inventions ; Pacific Island nations