Finding BORINKEN (2023)

In Finding Borinken, constitutional law scholar Luis Fuentes Rohwer embarks on the Taina Route, an ancient route of artifacts and ceremonial sites left behind by Puerto Rico’s original inhabitants. Joined by friends and family, he journeys from San Juan to Guanica visiting landmarks of Puerto Rican history while interviewing lawyers, activists, government officials, and artists on the island to explore Puerto Rico's history and what America means to the people of Puerto Rico.

As a Puerto Rican and constitutional scholar, he’s uniquely positioned to explore the relationship between the island and the United States. The film weaves together Luis’s personal experiences as a Puerto Rican in America with the constitutional questions raised by the complex legal framework that has kept Puerto Rico in constitutional limbo. For more than a century the island has existed in a unique constitutional status: an unincorporated territory, which lacks the representation of a full state and the autonomy of an independent nation. The creation of the fiscal oversight and management board in 2016 has further stressed the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico.

In a cinematic documentary style, Finding Borinken hopes to raise awareness about the constitutional crisis brewing on the island and what it means for American citizens all across the country.