The Edge of the Sea

The Edge of the Sea is a 26-minute documentary that explores the issue of privatization of public areas and the social and environmental consequences of excessive coastal development that is quickly changing the character of Puerto Rico’s beaches.

The film tells the story of Edwin ‘Pauco’ Font, a 61-year old third generation fisherman from Rincón, a small surfing town on the West coast of Puerto Rico. Since the late 1960’s, small fishing villages like Rincón have undergone expansive costal development, driven by tourism and the growing demand for beachfront property.  The film follows Pauco in his battle against a local developer planning to build a mega condo project on one of Rincón’s most popular public beaches.

Throughout the film, we come to understand Pauco’s motivation to fight the development. Since the explosion of tourism, he and other residents of Rincón have seen the white sand beaches of their hometown lose between 1 and 3 meters of volume a year due to erosion. Interviews with Marine Science experts explain that coastal development is one of the primary factors causing beaches in Rincón to disappear. Coastal development is not only worsening the problem of erosion but is also limiting beach access.

In 2001, Pauco sued the Puerto Rican Planning Board for granting the developers fraudulent permits to build the project. After an 8-year battle in court, the fishermen were able to prove that the “Reina del Mar” project would be in public domain lands. The ruling created an unprecedented victory and a source of inspiration for hundreds of communities around the island that are dealing with similar issues, in what seems to be an out of control quest to develop Puerto Rico’s coastline.

[CREDITS]

Producer / Director  Maria Jose (Majo) Calderon

Camera and Sound  Molly Snyder-Fink

Production Assistant  Oliver Bencosme

Archival Researcher  Marel Malaret

Original Score  “Mijo de la Palma” performed by Melvin López

Graphics  Yvan Iturriaga

Editor  Maria Jose (Majo) Calderon

Duration  26:30 minutes

Language  Spanish with English subtitles

Puerto Rico, 2009.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 3:54 am and is filed under The Edge of the Sea and tagged with Documentary, Edge of the Sea, Puerto Rico. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.