Ring in Environmental Awareness Month with a movie this Friday!

In celebration of April being Environmental Awareness Month, First Friday Films presents the film Islands of Sanctuary for FREE to all audiences at 6:30pm on Friday, April 3^rd at American Memorial Park.

“Islands of Sanctuary” is one film in the Standing on Sacred Ground series which follows Aboriginal Australians and Native Hawaiians as they reclaim land from the government and the military and resist the erosion of their culture and the environment.

Before the film, local Chamorro cultural historian Genevieve Cabrera will speak about the indigenous cultural groups of the Marianas Archipelago, Micronesia and greater Oceania. Ms. Cabrera has spent over a decade researching rock art of the Northern Mariana Islands and working to protect the islands from proposed military activities.

The theme for Environmental Awareness Month 2015 is “Our Natural Treasures,” and First Friday Films is just one of many events put on by the CNMI natural resource and environmental agencies, partner organizations and the community to celebrate the natural treasures that our islands have to offer. First Friday Films is also hosting a festival of local short films on Earth Day, April 22^nd at 6:30pm at American Memorial Park. The public is welcome to join for all or part of this event which will feature 15-30 minute professional documentaries about the environment in the CNMI.

First Friday Films is a partnership between American Memorial Park, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality and the Humanities Council with support from other organizations and individuals. This particular film is sponsored by BECQ. As always, our film events are free and open to the public. This event will run approximately 80 minutes.

FUTURE FOOD on March 6th

First Friday Films is featuring two new films from the FUTURE FOOD series this Friday! The public is invited for a free viewing of the films at 6:30pm on Friday, March 6^th at American Memorial Park to learn about new things happening all over the world to feed our growing population.

Did you know that tonight there will be 219,000 new mouths to feed at the world’s dinner table? That is 80 million more people over the next year, and 9 billion people total on planet Earth by the year 2050! FUTURE FOOD is a a documentary series created in 2012 that asks how we are going to feed ourselves in the 21^st century, and looks for answers in Peru, Kenya, the USA, India, Nigeria and China.

This Friday, we will show two episodes FOR FREE as part of our monthly documentary series. Episode 1: Old or New looks at a new generation of top chefs in Lima, Peru who are cooking with traditional ingredients and supporting traditional livelihoods. Episode 6: Stay or Go tries to answer the question, “Who will grow China’s food as young people leave the countryside for the cities?” More episodes from this series will be shown at future FFF events.

First Friday Films is a partnership between American Memorial Park, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality and the Humanities Council with support from other organizations and individuals. This particular film is sponsored by BECQ. As always, our film events are free and open to the public. This event will run approximately 70 minutes.

Fish-farming next Friday

The public is invited to join First Friday Films for a free film about aquaculture called Farming the Seas. The film will be shown at American Memorial Park on Friday, February 6^th at 6:30pm.

"Farming the Seas" examines the problems and potential of global aquaculture industry. The industry has the potential to alleviate the over-fishing problem but fish farms that raise carnivorous species can exacerbate it. Fish farms can also spread disease and genetic pollution to wild species of fish. The film also examines types of aquaculture that hold the most promise for taking pressure off the world's oceans - the culture of herbivorous fish species and shellfish.

Before the film, Aquaculture Extension Agent and Program Leader at NMC Crees, Mr. Michael Ogo, will share his extensive experience and knowledge about aquaculture in the CNMI. Mr. Ogo was the former vice-president of operations at Saipan Aquaculture Co and has been doing aquaculture professionally for the last 15 years. He helped establish the CNMI Aquaculture Producers Association, build the first commercial-scale tilapia farm in Saipan, and develop the aquaponics and hydroponics industry in the CNMI.

First Friday Films is a partnership between American Memorial Park, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality and the Humanities Council with support from other organizations and individuals. This particular film is sponsored by BECQ. As always, our film events are free and open to the public. This event will run approximately 90 minutes.

FFF's New Year starts January 2nd!

Happy last day of 2014!

Please join First Friday Films to ring in the New Year on Friday, January 2nd at 6:30pm at American Memorial Park. We will be showing the family-friendly film Dirt!
 
DIRT! The Movie–narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis–brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil.

But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches, DIRT! The Movie is a call to action. “When humans arrived 2 million years ago, everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on, the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked.”
How can you affect that relationship for the better?

First Friday Films is a partnership between American Memorial Park, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality and the Humanities Council with support from other organizations and individuals. As always, our film events are free and open to the public. This event will run approximately 90 minutes.

Check out the Marianas Trench this Friday!

First Friday Films is featuring the Marianas Trench in its program this Friday, December 5^th at 6:30pm at American Memorial Park.

The public is invited to join us for two free films this Friday. First, travel with us on the “First Voyage to the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument” with a local film produced by APASEEM in 2012 about the expedition to the newly created monument. Then we will show episode 3 from CBC’s One Ocean series entitled Mysteries of the Deep.

Mysteries of the Deep joins a team of scientists, ranging from biologists to volcanologists on an international expedition to the Mariana Arc. Every day they make new discoveries about the outlandish deep-sea dwellers and dramatic underwater volcanoes. But even as scientists catalog these new findings, industrial fisheries are also delving further into deep waters in an attempt to replace diminishing fish stocks along the coasts. Can technology help us understand this little-known world before it’s altered further?

Before the film, representatives from the CNMI’s Marine Monitoring Team will share photos, stories and research from their 2014 expeditions to the Northern Islands, including parts of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.

First Friday Films is a partnership between American Memorial Park, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality and the Humanities Council with support from other organizations and individuals. These particular films are sponsored by APASEEM and BECQ. As always, our film events are free and open to the public. This event will run approximately 90 minutes.