Film Image
Drills of Liberation
Producer: Juan C. Dávila Santiago
2021
Color
121 minutes
Puerto Rico
Spanish
English

Drills of Liberation

Simulacros de liberacion
"Liberation Drills" is the untold story of the Puerto Rican protest wave of 2016-2019, which culminated with the resignation of governor Ricardo Rosselló. In 2016, the US Congress appointed a seven-member board to control Puerto Rico’s government finances. The poor Caribbean colony has a massive economic crisis, and unpayable debt to Wall Street bondholders. When the Fiscal Control Board begins operations to pay bondholders they demand cuts public institutions and the privatization public assets, which triggers a new anti-austerity movement. Young people take to the streets to demand the cancellation of the country's public debt, and fight to protect the public education system.

The main social movement organization featured in this documentary is “Jornada: Se Acabaron Las Promesas.” Jornada organized dozens of protests, direct actions, and supported many other social justice causes. Later, hurricane María’s landfall revealed how the economic crisis made the country even more vulnerable to climate disasters. Jornada’s activists were among many others that organized community centers in urban and rural areas to address hunger in the aftermath of the hurricane. In this struggle for survival and against austerity young generations fight 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.
Director: Juan C. Dávila Santiago
Producer: Juan C. Dávila Santiago
Writers: Diana Ramos Gutiérrez, Juan C. Dávila Santiago
Artwork: BEMBA PR
Original Music: Aníbal S. Vidal Quintero
Original Theme Song “La Liberación Reclama”: Lizbeth Román, Aníbal S. Vidal Quintero
Associate Producers: Camila María, Jorge Díaz Hernández, Diana Ramos Gutiérrez, Sugeily Rodríguez Lebrón, Misael Rodríguez Quijano, Isangélica Soto Quijano
Director of Photography: Juan C. Dávila Santiago
Editor: Juan C. Dávila Santiago
Narrated by: Juan C. Dávila Santiago
Voice Coach: Emil Soler Felicé
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Awards

• “Honorable Mention” Best Documentary Feature – Workers Unite! Film Festival, 2021
• “Semi-Finalist” Best Documentary Feature – Blow-Up Arthouse Filmfest, Chicago, 2021
Screenings
• Caribbean Tales International Film Festival, Toronto, 2021
• Communism International Film Festival, 2021
• Seattle Latino Film Festival, 2021
• Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, 2021
• Anarchy Film Festival, 2021
• International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival, 2021
• Toronto Independent Film Festival, 2021
• The People’s Forum, New York, December 17, 2021
• Berkeley City College, California, September 23, 2022
• Maysles Documentary Center, New York, November 17, 2022
• Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, February 8, 2023

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TWN acknowledges that in New York we are on the unceded territory of the Lenni Lenape, Canarsie, Shinecock, and Munsee peoples and challenges the harm that continues to be inflicted upon Indigenous and People of Color communities here and abroad, which is why we all need to be part of the struggle for rights, equality and justice.

TWN is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Color Congress, MOSAIC, New York Community Trust, Peace Development Fund, Humanities NY, Ford Foundation, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and individual donors.