PacTravel
Flame Tree Festival’s New Light
Films Featured At Saipan’s Flame
| Sack races
are not traditional! says Catherine Perry Anderson, the public information officer
for the CNMI's 24th annual Flame Tree Arts Festival, the annual three-day festival
that takes place on Saipan from April 15 to 17. "They are," insists Angel S. Hocog, the festival's coordinator. Hocog and Anderson are sitting at a white Formica table in the Saipan Arts Council's gallery. They're talking-well, bickering, though in a very friendly way-about the Flame Tree's evolution and its parallel to the CNMI's evolution. Sack races are just a small part of that conversation and evolution. The Flame Tree Festival "originally catered to Chamorros and Carolinians," says Hocog. "But as Saipan has grown, so it's open to any ethnicities."
This diversity is perhaps especially noticeable during two parts of the festival, says Hocog: the Parade of Cultures and the performances on the festival stage. The Parade of Cultures is one of the festival's opening events where different ethnic groups wear their traditional costumes and perform for three minutes. The performances then continue on a stage in American Memorial Park for the festival's three days. These performances are even more diverse. There are, for one, lots more musicians. "Local, contemporary, and sometimes we have Americans who at the last minute want to sing country songs," says Hocog. There are also "both traditional and contemporary dancers," says Anderson. Some festival traditions remain unchanged: The festival will be held in American Memorial Park in Garapan. It will feature a mix of booths selling arts and crafts and food; delegations from islands throughout the Pacific will show crafts and perform traditional dances. Hopefully, says Anderson, the sons of Mau Piailug- the famous Satawal navigator-will again offer canoe rides to the festival's attendees. And the festival will, as always, be dedicated to local artists who died in the previous year. This year the festival will be dedicated to two artists, Florencia Seman and Juan Santos. Seman was a traditional crafts weaver. Santos was a soloist singer who frequently sang for the island's manamko in a variety of styles, including country music and the yodel.
There are also new festival features: The CNMI's Division of Youth Services "is providing a kids' arts and crafts booth to help keep the kids entertained," says Hocog. "They're going to have face painting, and local artists like Doug Rankin to do banana painting. Arts and crafts-work that kids will easily pick up." Games are another new introduction to keep both kids and adults gainfully occupied. Some of the games - like coconut husking and grinding contests - are traditional. Others, such as sack racing, are not (this Hocog finally concedes). Things are going well with the festival so far this year, says Anderson. "It's looking like it will turn out very well. If it doesn't rain." If it does rain, one brand new aspect of the Flame Tree Festival will be even busier: the first ever Flame Tree Film Festival. This year's film festival will feature locally-made films and films made off-island that involve people from the CNMI. Galvin Guerrero, the festival's founder and organizer, is expecting at least five hours' worth of films to be screened. A two-week film making workshop was scheduled for the end of March, partly to make films for the festival. The workshop was funded by the CNMI's Arts Council. Why this year? "I think that digital technology has gotten to the point where we can have a (film) festival," says Guerrero. "It's not only gotten easier to make films, but easier to show films."
Guerrero expects that next year the Flame Tree Film Festival will include films from all over the Pacific-which fits in with Hocog's vision of the 25th Flame Tree Arts Festival as a week-long pan-Pacific arts festival. For now, Guerrero is trying to figure out where to show this year's films. He'd like to convert some upside-down shipping containers into screening rooms. Not exactly traditional, but completely of the islands. The Flame Tree Arts Festival and the Flame Tree Film Festival will be held on Saipan from April 15-17, 2005.
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