GENRE: Documentary
RATING: NR
RUNNING TIME: 1:40
RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2018
STARRING: n/a
DIRECTOR: Gabriel Miranda
PRODUCER(S): Gabriel Miranda
WRITER(S): Gabriel Miranda
MOVIE SYNOPSIS: As Puerto Rico falls deeper and deeper into an unprecedented crisis this is Vietnam’s story, a community or barrio located on the coast of Guaynabo fighting an illegal expropriation at the hands of a career politician. Their experience echoes the island’s current struggle with; an unparalleled migration, a notion of progress fueled by corruption, crippling economic debt, displaced poor and middle class families whose land is being purchased by millionaires, and the slow to non-existent reconstruction of infrastructure after Hurricane Maria. This documentary will immerse you in a world that has been purposely kept out of the public eye. Difficult situations that involve—a municipality and its mayor Hector O’Neill silently and viciously expropriating residents, a community fighting for survival against the powers that be, and others like Victor who says the only way he leaves Vietnam is in a coffin. Vietnam’s conflict is a casualty of The Guaynabo City Waterfront project, a mixed-use complex that includes a hotel, an aquarium and a boardwalk, among other things. This attempt at gentrification is eliminating a source of culture and identity for Puerto Rican people. A community that has lived on their little piece of coastline for over 70 years fell captive to political and societal forces whose interests lie purely in economic growth. But its residents won’t give up and their fight is just beginning.