Today: Mar 28, 2024

“Jurukàn – Nation in Resistance” film screening

Alexandra Scicchitano Reporter

The main idea that filmmakers, Gonzalo Mazzini and Rosa Emmanuelli Gutiérrez, was to ask, “What is a Puerto Rican?”

“There’s million ways to be Puerto Rican,” said Gutiérrez.

The film, “Jurakán – Nation in Resistance,” aims to highlight resilience of the Puerto Rico’s three million inhabitants. It goes over its history of being a colony. There was also a Q&A session with Mazzini, the director, and Gutiérrez, the producer.

Mazzini said that they titled it Jurakán similar to the Spanish word for hurricane, because Puerto Rico is in a social and economic hurricane.

“We filmed this before Hurricane Maria,” said Mazzini, who wanted to emphasize that the name had nothing to do with Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico and it was to focus on the other issues in Puerto Rico. The initiative started from borrowing cameras and lights from relatives and friends and just going straight to Puerto Rico, said Mazzini.

“People believe in our cause,” said Mazzini about how many people helped fund the making of the documentary.

Mazzini said that there are a lot of other major events missing in the documentary and that it is hard to put the whole history of Puerto Rico in 93-minute documentary.

Elmer Rivera Bello, an attendee of the event and vice president of the Connecticut Puerto Rican Agenda, said that the film helps people understand the relationship between America and Puerto Rico.

“The film looks to shed light on the 120 years of [the] Puerto Rican and American relationship,” said Bello.

“There is so much to learn from Puerto Rico,” said Mazzini.

“It was a learning process in every way.”

Mazzini said that the experience was eye-opening and that we should not close our doors on people from other countries.

“Again, it’s good for everyone to see the film to erase a lot of misinformation,” said Bello.

“It’s more about the issues going on in Puerto Rico,” said Bello.

This is the filmmakers first tour in America for the movie, and that it is important because most Puerto Ricans are in America, said Mazzini, and this was the first screening in Connecticut.

“It sheds a light that we’re the hurricane,” said Bello.

Mazzini said that there is a disconnect between America and Puerto Rico.

Gutiérrez said, “We have to know our past to understand our present to have a better future.”

Photo Credit: Alexandra Scicchitano

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