For the past 18 months, Shareable has been working with a team of filmmakers, writers, audio engineers, partners, and funders to share this story with the world. In 2018, we released the first version of this story as part of The Response Podcast where it was broadcast to over 140 radio stations in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia thanks to our friends at Making Contact.
The 30-minute micro-budget film, “The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People,” explores the mutual aid centers that sprung up across the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017. It gives voice to those involved in these bold grassroots relief efforts by sharing their stories of the devastating storm, the recovery, and the movement for popular power that emerged in response.
Despite the grave nature of this storm, which many believe to be the worst disaster to hit the United States or its territories in the past 100 years, this story is also celebratory. For some, there’s is a deep joy that has accompanied the sadness; a feeling of solidarity and possibility that didn’t previously exist in the same way before the storm.
The film also acts as a reminder of how damaging climate-fueled disasters are and urges us to consider how resilient our communities are, how best to adapt for the changes ahead, and how to respond and rebuild in a just and equitable way with extra consideration for the most vulnerable populations.
A Shareable Production
Producer and Narrator: Tom Llewellyn, Director and Cinematographer: Juan C. Davila, Story: Robert Raymond, Juan C. Davila, and Tom Llewellyn, Screenplay: Robert Raymond, Script editors: Tom Llewellyn, Ambika Kandasamy and Neal Gorenflo, Montage: Robert Raymond and Juan C. Davila, Music: Papel Machete, Vladi and Skew One, Pond 5, Sound design and engineering: Robert Raymond, Video editing: Juan C. Dávila, Consulting Producers: Neal Gorenflo, Asher Miller, Production Assistant (Humacao): Lemaris Lorenzo, Translation: Kate Riestenberg, Narration and Translation consultant: Ellie Llewellyn, Operations: Joslyn Beile, PR: Courtney Pankrat and Tom Llewellyn, Additional Film Clips: Maya Curry
Interviewees (in order of appearance):
Judith Rodriguez, Giovanni Roberto, Astrid Cruz Negrón, Ramonita Bonilla, José Bellafloras (Guri), Omar Reyes, Christine Nieves
We’d like to thank the following individual donors, partners, foundations, and sponsors who helped make this possible:
Thriving Resilient Communities Collaboratory, Carolyne Stayton and Transition US, Bob Stilger and New Stories, Asher Miller and Post Carbon Institute, Lisa Rudman and Making Contact, Threshold Foundation, Abundant Earth Foundation, Clif Bar Family Foundation, Shift Foundation, MyTurn, Tipalti, NearMe, Stocksy United, Seats2Meet, MarketPlace Platform, Hannah Apricot, Molly Siegal, Leslie Meehan, and other readers and viewers like you.
The Response is a podcast and documentary series exploring the remarkable communities that arise in the aftermath of disasters. Spanning the globe, each episode takes a deep dive into a unique location to uncover the under-reported stories that are hidden just beneath the surface of extraordinary events.
Shareable is an award-winning nonprofit media outlet, action network, and consultancy. Our mission is to empower communities to share for a more resilient, equitable, and joyful world. We inspire social change by publishing solutions-based journalism, running campaigns, and helping our consulting clients achieve their goals through sharing.
