I BELIEVE IN AMERICA is a story about broken family ties resulting from terrorism in the 1970s by a violent faction of the Puerto Rican independence movement known as the FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional or Armed Forces of National Liberation).

Reynaldo, the film’s protagonist, is criticized for falling victim to the “Americanization” of the world, and must come to terms with the deadly results of his early idealistic ambitions.

The film follows two characters that have chosen different paths, one who will sacrifice everything to maintain his cultural identity and another who has turned his back on his ethnic identity to walk towards his American life in New York.

Writer/Director Michael J. Narvaez has adapted his popular off-Broadway play, “A Doctor’s Call,” into a film that is based on true events in his family’s life. I BELIEVE IN AMERICA is a modern day epic about three generations of a family who are on opposing sides of the issue concerning the independence movement for Puerto Rico.

This drama is set in New York in 1999 with flashbacks to the historical terrorist act of the bombing of Fraunces Tavern in 1975, which killed four people. (Fraunces Tavern was the former site of the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs, Treasury and War during the early days of the American Republic.) The FALN claimed responsibility for the bombing

The FALN, whose goal was to commit violent acts in protest of U.S. military presence and the influence of U.S. based corporations on the island, was responsible for more than 120 bomb attacks on U.S. military and government buildings, financial institutions, and corporate headquarters between 1974 and 1983, in Chicago, New York, and Washington DC until the group was shut down by the FBI.

The unfortunate terrorist events of September 11 remind us that attacks on American symbols historically have not been carried out by solely one ethnic group and that despite such acts the U.S. continues to assimilate and acculturate millions of immigrants each year.

This story is one of many in the vast thread of American fabric, but nonetheless an important one that needs to be told.

The project marries some of the film world’s best talents including Jamie Harris, Roger Smith, and Academy Award nominee Melissa Leo, along with Suzanne DeLaurentiis as part of the production team. The cast also includes Ann Dowd, Jose Yenque, Aaron Staton, Jaime Tirelli and Coati Mundi.