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TV series Finu’ Chamorro premieres at the AMP
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Posted on Jan 03 2012
With English fast becoming the language of the street, the CNMI is on the brink of losing one if its treasures: the Chamorro language. Fewer and fewer people speak Chamorro and even fewer numbers know how to read and write it.
A small group on Saipan is, however, taking action to ensure that the language does not go the way of the dodo. On Dec. 23, 201, a TV series titled Finu’ Chamorro premiered at the state-of-the-art American Memorial Park Museum Theater, signaling the start of efforts to fight back against the language’s extinction.
Lumi Bermudes, PSS Chamorro Language & Heritage Studies program manager, said that the crowd at the premiere “was happy that we started such a project, it being a project [that] advocates the importance of preserv[ing] the Chamorro language.”
Bermudes did wish for more people to have attended the event but conceded that it was the middle of the holiday season where schedules were at their busiest. “I wished there were more; however, I guess the timing was a big factor.”
With some minor tweaking here and there, the premier was a huge success, with the audience writing down notes on how to further improve the show.
“For the most part, however, I need to find more time [for] the editing of the script and the final cut,” Bermudes said, adding that some parts “need to have more cultural pictures/artifacts as the background.”
“There are always rooms for ideas. I think the most important is that I am present when shooting and that I edit the script before the shooting,” she added.
There are many people to thank, Bermudes said, but most of all “to my family; my parents for instilling the language, my sons for driving me to preserve the language for future generations, and my partner for being my biggest critic and of course, Digital Motion for partnering up with me to realize the dream.”
“Finu’Chamorro is going full ahead,” Bermudes said. “Si yu’us ma’asi’ to those who showed for the premiere and those silent sponsors who have yet to step up!”
Finu’ Chamorro is currently airing every Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, Channel 7 ABC 7, from 7pm to 7:30pm. [I](PR)[/I]
