CHamoru A Lost Language

As his grandmother is the last true generation of CHamoru language speakers in his family, Guam native Brian Muna seeks to understand why the CHamoru language has rapidly diminished on his island. Along the way, he is inspired by CHamoru language advocates and youth, who are revitalizing their indigenous language, and hopefully reconnect him to the culture he let go years ago. Through this journey he takes a personal look at himself and how the language is instrumental to his identity, shifting his perspective to more than preservation, but seeing the CHamoru language as a gift to share with both his grandmother and his children.

Credits
Writer: Brian Muna, Akina Chargualaf
Producer: Brian Muna, Marissa Muna
Executive Producer: Stanley Nelson, Marcia Smith, Leticia Peguero, Chloë Walters-Wallace
Director of Photography: James Davis
Editor: Brian Muna
Composer: Micah Garrido
Sound Designer: Micah Garrido
Music: Francisco B. Rabon, Johnny Sablan

Plays in

Pacific Cinewaves: Sites of Memory in Oceania

For this year’s LAAPFF’s Pacific Cinewaves program, we invite you on a journey to witness the cinematic narratives of six Pasifika storytellers as they grapple with themes of family, grief, identity, dispossession and memory.