Presented by Nave Visiting Scholar, Juan C. Dávila, award-winning documentary filmmaker, news producer, and activist.
About the presentation: This documentary film is the untold story of the Puerto Rican protest wave of 2016-2019, which culminated with the resignation of governor Ricardo Rosselló. The poor colony of Puerto Rico has a massive economic crisis, and unpayable debt to Wall Street bondholders, which triggered an anti-austerity movement. Young people take to the streets to demand the cancellation of the country’s public debt, and organized community centers in urban and rural areas to address hunger in the aftermath of climate disasters. “Simulacros de Liberación” follows “Jornada: Se Acabaron las Promesas” movement as they face a Fiscal Control Board appointed by the US Congress that pressures the Puerto Rican government to make cuts to public services to pay the bondholders. In this struggle young generations are fighting for their basic rights, as they also reimagine the liberation and future of their country. This documentary is a portrait of Puerto Rico’s new fight against US Colonialism.
About the presenter: Born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Juan C. Dávila is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, news producer, and activist. He is the director of the feature-length documentary film, “Simulacros de Liberación” (2021), which was released in movie theaters around Puerto Rico. Previously he directed two mid-length documentary films: “Compañeros de lucha” (2012) and “Vieques: una batalla inconclusa” (2016). His filmography also includes the award-winning short film, “La generación del estanbai” (2016), “Aftershocks of Disaster” (2020), “Networked Education” (2020), “Rayito de sol” (2021), and a TV pilot for the documentary series “The Response” (2019). In 2023, he won two New York Emmys for the TV series “Puerto Rican Voices” where he worked as a director and executive producer. Dávila is a former senior producer at “When We Fight, We Win! The Podcast!”, and news producer for the newscast Democracy Now! where he continues to contribute as Puerto Rico’s correspondent and producer. His journalistic work has been featured in TeleSur, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, PBS, and The Indypendent in New York. He holds a BA in Communication from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico (2011) and two Masters in Social Documentation (2015) and Latin American and Latinx Studies (2020) from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dávila is currently directing a documentary about the life of community leader Carlos “Taso” Zenón and just finished a short about the decline of fish populations in Vieques for PBS.