The first annual Guam International Film Festival, or GIFF, will be held in September and will be a three-day event.
“The festival will provide local artists with a platform to be able to showcase local works internationally,” said Don Muna.
The idea, Muna said, was a natural progression for the duo, after wrapping up their first full-length movie “Shiro’s Head” in October.
The festival will be directed by J.D. Iriarte, who was a former Hollywood event planner and Paramount Studios director of development.
“GIFF is crucial to the evolution of entertainment and moviemaking on Guam, and it only makes sense that it is brought together by Guam’s first full-length movie creators, the Muna Brothers,” said Iriarte.
While other Pacific island nations are hosting their own film festivals, Muna said bringing one to Guam will set the stage for international recognition of the island’s talented artists.
“In our case, we’re focused on Pacific-Asia and Pacific Islanders films which promote across cultural lines,” said Muna.
In fact, Muna said, although unbeknownst to most of the island, Guam has a large amount of aspiring local filmmakers who shoot mostly short films or documentaries.
And he and his brother Kel Muna were no different, facing tough challenges just to be able to fulfill their dreams of producing a full-length movie locally.
“The hardest part about making the film ‘Shiro’s Head’ was the fact that we weren’t getting paid. We quit our day jobs and took a chance and even up until the point when we premiered the movie, we didn’t see a minimum wage paycheck come out of the movie,” said Muna. “We were literally aspiring filmmakers working out of our garage.”
Muna, who was residing in California before moving back to Guam two and half years ago, was working several dead-end jobs to make ends meet.
“My manager at Walmart sent me outside to push in 350 carts and it was over 100 degrees outside; I was sweating … I said to myself, ‘what am I doing,’” Muna recalled.
“So I came back home, Kel was watching TV, and I told him we really needed to start on that film we’d been talking about making,” said Muna.
However difficult, Muna said filming ‘Shiro’s Head’ was unlike any other experience in his life.
“It was, next to our kids and our families, probably the best thing we’ve ever done,” said Muna.
The three-day festival will feature special events, including filmmaking workshops, gala events, awards ceremonies, and screenings of international independent films such as Pacific Asian films. More details on the film festival will be made available at a later date.
