In 2018, Puerto Rico based actor, composer and filmmaker Juan Botta left job security behind to center on his creative life. That’s when he launched Freelance, an inventive Instagram film series that empathizes with the challenges of living and working in Puerto Rico today. Botta’s determination to make films where he lives—despite economic, political and environmental conditions—suggests creativity as a way forward. Freelance expresses a sense of hope, demonstrating that it's possible to find poetry, humor and beauty in the most unlikely situations.
The backstory: In 2019, we head to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to immerse ourselves in the island’s creative life. Now more than ever, residents are faced with a mountain of adversity. Two years after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, this place still awaits reconstruction. Puerto Rico’s 2019 summer uprising protested against politics as usual. Residents gathered en masse, to transform the political landscape. Nonstop street demonstrations led to the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló. New actors and forces are emerging that resist the island’s colonial subordination.
Despite ongoing unstable conditions, cultural work continues, with renewed energy. One night in San Juan, we meet Argentina born Juan Botta, an award winning actor, composer and filmmaker who grew up in Puerto Rico. He left his job in the tourism industry one year ago, to center on creative pursuits.
Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio | Special Audio: Juan Botta
Related Episodes: Mapping Caribbean Cultural Ecologies, Filmmaking in Pahokee Holds Hope for the Future, Akosua Adoma Owusu on Her Film Kwaku Ananse
Related Links: Juan Botta on Instagram, on YouTube
Fresh Talk: Yvette Mutumba and Julia Grosse
Fresh Talk: Creative Mornings Miami
Fresh Talk: Athi Patra Ruga
Fresh Talk: Rachel Armstrong
Fresh Talk: Hattie Mae Williams
Fresh Talk: Akosua Adoma Owusu
Fresh Talk: The Origin Story
Fresh Talk: Laurie Anderson
Fresh Talk: Contemporary Istanbul with Ali Güreli
Fresh Talk: Oliver Beer
Fresh Talk: Felipe Dulzaides
Fresh Talk: Poland Takes Haiti to Venice
Fresh Talk: Anish Kapoor
Fresh Talk: The Studios of Key West
Fresh Talk: Jérôme Sans and Liu Xiaodong
Fresh Talk: Cesar Cornejo
Fresh Talk: Marinella Senatore
Fresh Talk: Micol Hebron
Mary Mattingly on Human Relationships
Fresh Talk: Macedonia in Venice with Basak Senova, Yane Calovski, and Hristina Ivanoska
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast
Immaterial: 5,000 Years of Art, One Material at a Time
The Week in Art
Pride and Prejudice
Just So Stories
Art Sense
The Art Angle