Mount Carmel School learned that its latest entry in the “We Drank Our Tears” series, the stories of Visitacion Camacho, Henry Indalecio, and David “Uncle Dave” Sablan, were accepted into two more film festivals. The films will be screened at the 2022 Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival and as part of the 2nd Māsima Pacific Islands Film Tour.
The Lift-Off Global Network is an organization encompassing worldwide live screening events, distribution initiatives, a seasonal awards ceremony, and an ever-growing and active Network of indie film creators. The Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival is one of the most successful in the season, with back-to-back sellouts and huge interest from the general public and local press based in Japan. The Annual Māsima Film Tour is the first film festival created by Pacific Islanders for Pacific Islanders within the U.S. The tour is a collaboration between the Utah Pacific Island Film Series and the Salt Lake Film Society to bring Pacific stories to a broader audience.
The writer and producer of the film series and president of Northern Marianas College, Galvin Deleon Guerrero, EdD, was very happy to hear of the screenings. He said, “These films have empowered a whole new generation of storytellers to learn more about their history and tell these important stories of resiliency and hope.” All films in the series were made primarily with students from the school serving as cast and crew members. As Deleon Guerrero noted, “Just as the original book was the work of young students chronicling the stories of their elders in print, these films are the work of young students chronicling the stories of our islands in film.”
All films in the series are adapted from “We Drank Our Tears”, a 2004 oral history of the civilian experience of World War II battles on Saipan and Tinian, published by Pacific STAR Young Writers Foundation. In 1944, some of the final battles of World War II were waged on the Pacific islands of Saipan and Tinian. 933 indigenous Chamorro and Refaluwasch civilians did not survive the battles. The book and the film series tell some of those stories.
The film stars Jessiana Tenorio as Visitacion Camacho, Jayson Tagaubel as Henry Indalecio, and Kainoa Tenorio as Dave Sablan. Their stories were directed by AlumKnight Mikee Mendoza current Senior Larry Cruz, and the school’s director of institutional development and AlumKnight, Victoria Deleon Guerrero.
The production was made possible by the CNMI CARES Relief Fund for Organizations and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.
For more information about the films or Mount Carmel School, please visit www.mountcarmelsaipan.com.
