- Welcome to POV .
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut .
Tonight's film shows us a portrait
of post-hurricane Puerto Rico:
the turmoil its people experienced
and how a country's entire identity can be at stake
in the wake of such a tragedy in the film Landfall .
Landfall really explores the effects of two storms
on this embattled country:
Hurricane Maria had devastating physical effects
on this beautiful land.
But in the aftermath of this historic hurricane,
the U.S. colony also witnessed another storm of sorts:
an economic one.
In the months that followed,
demonstrators took to the streets
to overthrow their governor, protesting predatory investors
who all too often take advantage of countries
left in ruin by natural disasters.
Director Cecilia Aldarondo calls this "disaster capitalism,"
and it's exactly what she set out to expose
while making the film.
Aldarondo was working on another project when the hurricane hit.
And with family still living on the island, she traveled there
with a mission she called "emergency filmmaking."
To counter outside forces preying on the desperation
of a traumatized Puerto Rico,
Aldarondo tried to show her homeland
as the film's protagonist, portraying Puerto Rico
as a vibrant home to its people.
This is not the first time Aldarondo's work
has appeared on POV .
Her film Memories of a Penitent Heart aired on POV in 2017.
So sit back and enjoy this insightful film by one
of the documentary world's most up-and-coming directors,
who says everyone is invited to Puerto Rico through her film.
Landfall starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.