El Museo Del Barrio Screening of Puerto Rico Documentary ‘We Still Here’ on Nov. 10

At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10, El Museo del Barrio in Spanish Harlem will be screening the documentary We Still Here/ Nos Tenemos, which centers on a group of young Puerto Ricans seeking justice in the wake of Hurricane María. The screening is part of a Puerto Rican History Month celebration, followed by an afterparty at La Fonda Boricua at 8 p.m. with DJ Mellow G.

From award-winning filmmaker Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, We Still Here follows 24-year-old Mariangelie Ortiz and others in the central mountain town of Comerío as they travel to the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C. to voice their frustration with the federal government’s response to the disaster in late 2017 and demand justice for the people of Puerto Rico.

“Within two weeks of Hurricane Maria, I was on a plane to San Juan with 36 boxes of donations from my family and community in the Bay Area,” Jacobs-Fantauzzi, who is also co-founder of the multimedia project co-founder of Defend Puerto Rico, tells Latino Rebels. “I never thought about telling a story of just recovery on our island of Borikén, but as I was in the community rebuilding alongside them brick by brick in the small town of Comerio, I realized that this story had to be told.

“Without knowing it, this community has created a model of just recovery that needs to be shared with the world.”

Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi, Eli’s brother and filmmaking partner, describes the documentary as showing “what justice looks like in the rebuilding and recovery process in Puerto Rico post-Hurricane María.” As Puerto Rican himself, whose father was born in raised in El Barrio, Kahlil calls the screening of We Still Here at El Museo del Barrio “a great honor.”

“This film provides a blueprint and a source of inspiration for communities across the world facing the devastating impacts of climate change,” Eli said in a statement. “It showcases a new model for disaster recovery, one that centers community, youth-leadership, and justice.”

The film recently won the Audience Award at the Urbanworld Film Festival.

You can purchase tickets to Wednesday’s screening here.

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Hector Luis Alamo is the Senior Editor at Latino Rebels and hosts the Latin[ish] podcast. Twitter: @HectorLuisAlamo