Dr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero, Northern Marianas College president, speaks at the Cinema in Saipan event last year. His new film, “ISLA: Isla’n Esperansa” debuts later this month.
GALVIN Deleon Guerrero’s latest film, “ISLA: Isla’n Esperansa” will have its premiere at the Saipan Regal Cinema on Jan. 25 at 6 p.m.
“It’s been a long time coming,” the Northern Marianas College president said.
The film, completely shot on Saipan, centers around a local, impoverished high school senior and “math wiz,” who finds himself embroiled in Saipan’s “criminal underworld” as he raises money to potentially leave the island for college and perhaps bring his family with him.
Deleon Guerrero said the film is part of a trilogy that “explores the theme of faith, hope, and love against the backdrop of the Marianas.”
“ISLA: Isla’n Esperansa is Chamorro for ‘island of hope’ but the interesting thing, because it’s from Spanish, ‘esperansa’ is just one letter away from ‘desperånsa,’ which is despair,” Deleon Guerrero said. “So it’s really interesting — hope and despair are just one letter apart.”
Deleon Guerrero said the film’s main character has quite a journey in store for himself.
“He’s struggling between whether or not he’s going to go off island for college or stay, and so he finds a way to make money in the criminal underworld,” Deleon Guerrero said. “He hopes he can use that to raise enough money to take his younger sister and mother with him when he goes to college.”
He said the main character will be dealing with “the despair of poverty that they’re living in — the despair of the overall malaise that they experience here on Saipan; and then there’s the despair of the criminal underworld that he finds himself in.”
The actors include NMC student John San Nicolas in the main role, Maise Tenorio, Eric Atalig, John Blanco, Rob Travilla, and LJ Castro.
Deleon Guerrero said the film is a collaboration between NMC and his alma mater, Mount Carmel School, where Deleon Guerrero served as president for nine years.
Tickets are already on sale for $15 at Hafa Bean, Tribe Marianas, and the MCS business office.
Deleon Guerrero suggests purchasing tickets soon, because the film will be screened for just one night and only 200 seats are available.
He said the film will also be entered in numerous film festival circuits so keeping the screening limited lends it an air of “exclusivity” that can help its chances at performing well off-island.
Delon Guerrero, who describes himself as a “filmmaker trapped inside an educator’s body,” said he is a “firm believer” in the “collective experience of watching a film together.”
He said work being done by NMC and MCS in regard to filmmaking is part of a wider effort to “help more people from our island tell stories that matter to them.”
He added, “We need to tell our stories so that we have a voice, we have a seat at the table, and also so that others can hear our voices. We have our own stories to tell whether you’re Chamorro, Refaluwasch, Filipino or Korean that calls the Northern Marianas home — your voice matters.”
