"Economics of Happiness" tomorrow!

We have a great film tomorrow (Friday) at American Memorial Park at 6:30pm.  We will be screening The Economics of Happiness, a film that looks into how globalization is affecting our communities and their well being (a full description of the film can be found in our previous post here).

We are incredibly excited to have Anthony Pellegrino speaking before the film and answering audience questions about localizing our economy here in the CNMI.

This event is the beginning of several sponsored by the CNMI Council for Humanities, and we can not thank them enough for their support of this project.

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 65 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public. 

See you tomorrow!

"Economics of Happiness" for January

First Friday Films will be featuring its first film of the year and you don’t want to miss it. The Economics of Happiness, a film by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick, & John Page, will be showing on January 6, 2012, 6:30pm at the American Memorial Parks Visitors Center. 

Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of business and banking. The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On one hand, the alliance between governments and big business continues to promote globalization and consolidation of corporate power. And on the other, people all over the world are resisting those policies. Communities are coming together to re-build more human-scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – the economics of localization.  More information about the film can be found here.

Anthony Pellegrino, owner of Saipan Aquaculture Co. Inc. and Cargo Air Bridge, will be on hand to discuss his vision for a sustainable local economy in the NMI as well as to share how he believes the community can participate in building it.  Additionally, he will be answering audience questions following the film.

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 65 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public.

"Ocean of Islands" to be shown prior to this Friday's film

Tomorrow (Friday 12/2) we will be showing a second episode of the BBC South Pacific series entitled Fragile Paradise.  The film will start promptly at 6:30pm at the American Memorial Park visitor's center.  See the post below for more details.

Additionally, at 5:15pm we will be re-showing the episode from this series we screened last month, Ocean of Islands.  So if you missed this one, or would just like to see it again, come early tomorrow.

As with last month, we will be showing both of these beautiful films in Blu-Ray, which looks great up on the big screen.

For planning purposes, each episode will run 50min in length.  Seating is limited, so please arrive early to ensure admittance.

See you tomorrow!

Fragile Pacific for Dec 2nd

First Friday Films will be featuring another episode of BBC’s South Pacific, titled Fragile Paradise on December 2, 2011, 6:30pm at American Memorial Park Visitors Center.

The South Pacific is still relatively healthy and teeming with fish, but it is a fragile paradise. International fishing fleets are taking a serious toll on the sharks, albatross and tuna, and there are other insidious threats to these bountiful seas. Worst of all are ecological threats, notably global warming, which causes rising sea levels as well as climatic changes including storms and floods. This episode looks at the conservational measures, such as reserves and replanting coral reefs and what is being done to preserve the ocean and its wildlife.

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 50 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public.

"Ocean of Islands" Friday

First Friday Films will be featuring BBC’s Wild Pacific:  Ocean of Islands this Friday, November 4^th, 2011,  6:30pm at American Memorial Park Visitors Center.

BBC’s Wild Pacific: Ocean of Islands presents an overview of the natural history of the region. This landmark series explores the sheer scale and majesty of the largest ocean on Earth. The film will also detail the methods of formation of its islands, the diverse ecosystems, the extraordinary journeys wildlife and humans have gone through to reach these specks of land, and how both have adapted to life here. 

First Friday Films is a monthly film series brought to you through a partnership with the National Park Service and the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ), with generous support from community groups such as the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance (MINA).

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 80 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public.  Seating is limited, please arrive early to ensure admittance. 

"Navigators" for October

First Friday Films Celebrates National Arts and Humanities Month in October featuring The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific playing at 6:30 p.m. on October 7, 2011 at American Memorial Park.

Over 1,000 years ago, the islands of Polynesia were explored and settled by navigators who used only the waves, the stars, and the flights of birds for guidance. In hand-built, double-hulled canoes sixty feet long, the ancestors of today's Polynesians sailed across a vast ocean area, larger than Europe and North America combined.

To explore this ancient navigational heritage, anthropologist/filmmaker Sanford Low visited the tiny coral atoll of Satawal in Micronesia's remote Caroline Islands. The Navigators reveals the subtleties of this sea science, transmitted in part through a ceremony known as "unfolding the mat," in which 32 lumps of coral are arranged in a circle to represent the points of the "star compass." To master the lore of navigation was to attain great status in traditional Micronesian society.

This special event is brought to you by the NMI Council for the Humanities, the Tan Siu Lin Foundation, the Division of Environmental Quality and the National Park Service.

As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public. For planning purposes, the film runs 59 minutes.

"Recyclergy" to be shown tomorrow

Due to some unforeseen difficulties, we will be unable to show the film "All Jacked Up".  However, we do a have a great film to show, "Recyclergy", which looks at the fading subculture of recyclers in the San Francisco area.  This film won the community vote for Environmental Awareness Month this past May, and we though we would give everyone a second chance to see this entertaining film.

 After the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, community, non-profit recycling centers began to pop up in schools, garages, and neighborhood centers all sharing the goal of bringing recycling to their cities. Now only two non-profit recycling organizations remain in San Francisco. Despite the lack of surviving community recycling centers, the Bay Area is still home to a unique community of recyclers who push the envelope of possibilities. Featuring interviews with recycling pioneers and music by Rube Waddell, "The Recyclergy" is an entertaining examination of a fading subculture.

As always, the film is free and open to the public.  The film will start at 6:30pm, tomorrow September 2nd.  Please come early to ensure admittance, as seating is limited.

See you tomorrow!