AIFF

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POWERING PUERTO RICO

SUNDAY | 2:00 pm

Outstanding MA Filmmaker Award Sponsored by High Output

Adam Fischer

41 min | MA, USA | 2022

Puerto Rico, 2017: It all started with a storm and a car battery. Eugene Smotkin, a Northeastern University professor, was home in San Juan for the summer when Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico leaving 3 million+ people without electricity. Back on campus, Smotkin had an idea and set about to test an experiment with his class, giving back electricity to a neglected energy populace at a fraction of the current cost. This is a film about Puerto Rico’s resilience through hardship—and one man’s ingenuity in bringing power to the masses.

Q&A with Filmmaker Adam Fisher and Professor Smotkin