I Believe in America is an independent film produced for less than $700,000 that the Puerto Rican Film Commission wouldn’t allow to be filmed on la isla del encanto. Who’s afraid of an indie film? Apparently many people especially when that film deals with the independence of Puerto Rico and those that struggle for it like the Macheteros. Writer/Director Michael J. Narvaez adapted his Off-Broadway play, A Doctor’s Call into the film, based on his own family history, which follows three generations of a Puerto Rican family who, unknown to one another, are all involved in the pro-independence Macheteros. Narvaez blames the current political climate for the roadblocks he’s encountered in producing the film that is still without a distributor.

“What you find when you do the research is that as far as families, Puerto Rican families, you‘re afraid to say you‘re for independence,” he said. “You were afraid before 9/11. After 9/11, now you‘re really spooked.”

Narvaez’s own grandfather was a Machetero as was his older brother. The story he began writing about 10 years ago struggled to be born as a film. Narvaez said :

I couldn‘t get financing in my beloved Puerto Rico. Why? I am hitting the nerve, I am getting right to the bone marrow of the issue and what I‘m writing about is so painful.

Narvaez, 50, expects to complete the project by mid-April and release it onto the summer festival circuit.

The film couldn’t come at a more appropriate time, with discussions about the status of Puerto Rico heating up ,especially in light of last September’s FBI killing of Machetero leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios and the recent FBI raids on people’s homes and business in Puerto Rico.

Find out more about the film: I Believe in America

Via / Virtual Boricua
Image Via / I Believe in America