UNDERCURRENTS OF A CHANGING CLIMATE - THE 12th FESTIVAL OF PACIFIC ARTS, GUAM

A film about environmental change and the 12th Festival of Pacific Arts: voices from Guam, Tokelau and Kiribati.

Every four years, participants from 27 island nations gather to celebrate their culture and to perform their identity at the Festival of Pacific Arts. In 2016, FestPAC took place in Guam, the largest of the Mariana Islands, and as many say one of the USA's last colonies.

One of the festivals core themes in 2016 was: 'Our resources from land and sea that have sustained Pacific islanders for thousands of years'. We meet festival delegates from three island nations (Tokelau, Guam and Kiribati) to discuss how they perceive today's environmental challenges: We are looking for the undercurrents of a changing climate.

How does climate change discourse affect performances of traditional and contemporary dance and other art forms?

Our interview partners are: Asi Fangalua Halaleva-Pasilio (one of the leading figures of the delegation from Nukunonu, Tokelau), Kaure Babo (a newly elected member of parliament from Kiribati), Joe Viloria (a cultural practitioner and fisherman from Guam who is working relentlessly to restore a perceived ancient Chamorro culture), and Adrienne L. Kaeppler (curator of Oceanic Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.)

A documentary by Dennis Dellschow and Eric Petzoldt.

Co-funded by the AKB foundation.

Premiere: Munich, Germany: ESfO 2017, 2 July 2017

International Premiere: Hagatna, Guam: GUAM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 1 October 2017

Upcoming Screenings: 

Apia, Samoa: November 2017

Stuttgart, Germany: Linden Museum, March 2018