EL DOMINICANO CINEMA

Dominican cinema is a film industry that has recently taken off, since the projection of the first
film with a Lumiere cinematograph at the Curiel theater in San Felipe in Puerto Plata at the
beginning of the 20th century; We had to wait until 1915 for the first film produced in
Dominican territory, although the production was not made up of Dominicans, it was filmed in
the country, the Puerto Rican cameraman Rafael Colorado, made the first film made in the
Dominican Republic, by a foreigner, titled “José de Diego's Excursion in Santo Domingo.”

In the film prehistory of Dominican cinema, the works of the photographer and editor
Francisco Palau stand out, who in 1922, together with the photographer Tuto Báez and Juan B.
Alfonseca makes the first fiction film of Dominican cinema: “The Legend of the Virgin of
Altagracia”, with the collaboration of the historian Bernardo Pichardo on the texts. Palau
premiered it on the night of February 16, 1923, and it became the first Dominican film. The
enthusiasm of this team later led to the creation of a comedy with naive overtones with the
title “Cupid's Ambushes” (1924).

The first Dominican film with sound is a newsreel filmed in 1930 about the figure of former
President Trujillo. Cinema is adopted by the mass media as an ideological instrument. For this
reason, in the thirty years of tyranny, only documentary works were carried out about the
country that exalt the tyrant and his relatives. Only in 1953, the filmmaker Rafael Augusto
Sánchez Stanley “Pupito”, his company Cine Domiciano produced thirteen documentaries on
request for the Secretaries of State of the regime, with the direction of the Cuban Pepe Prieto,
experienced firsthand the rigidity of the prevailing political structure. Being faithful to reality,
his documentaries show some aspects of the misery that was experienced in the 1950s in the
Dominican Republic, showing a contrasting reality between the material lack of the Dominican
people and the opulence exhibited by the Trujillo family.

Given this situation, the production company Cinema Dominicana was ordered to be
dismantled and Pupito Sánchez Sanlley was arrested, who was taken to the regime's torture
prisons, from where he never left.

The first post-Trujillo film was not until 1963, when playwright Franklin Domínguez released his
feature film “La Silla”, where he denounces the horrors of the Trujillo regime, becoming the
first Dominican production to be made after the fall of Rafael's dictatorial regime. Leonidas
Trujillo. After a while, a young man with a desire to make films bursts onto the national scene
with a product that surprises everyone with the grace and courage with which it was
undertaken. Ángel Muñiz takes over the direction of “Nueba Yol: Balbuena finally arrived”
(1995). Muñiz's film marks a great marketing phenomenon in the Dominican Republic since
such a broad advertising campaign had never been designed for a Dominican film that included
the written press, radio, television and other direct advertising media. A campaign success that
places comedian Luisito Martí, through his interpretation of Balbuena, as the most attractive
character in Dominican cinema.
2003 can be considered “Year Zero” for Dominican filmography since it is where a constant is
established in terms of fiction film production. It is to the producer and filmmaker Miguel
Vázquez that we owe the push in the new stage registered in Dominican cinema at the
beginning of the new millennium. Miguel with his debut film titled “Success by Exchange”
(2003). This stimulated Ángel Muñiz to make his third feature film “Perico ripiao” (2003), which
was the sum of several years of process that began with “Nueba Yol: Balbuena finally arrived”
(1995) and continued with “Nueba Yol III : Under the new law” (1997). In 2004, José Enrique
Pintor, a Spaniard living in the Dominican Republic, filmed his debut film “The Prison of Victory,
the Fourth Man”, a sort of prison plot of denunciations and intrigues.

A surprising step in Dominican cinema occurs when Rogert and Frankeli Bencosme, turned into
filmmakers without prior notice, sponsor their desire for a plot thesis that, although not new,
is another contribution to the future within Dominican cinema. “Andrea: the revenge of a
spirit”, originally filmed in digital format and then transferred to 35mm for exhibition to the
public, is a supernatural horror film that detaches itself a little from those arbitrariness of
commercial cinema, even though it is a commercial product offered for the masses. After this
risk comes “The Curse of Father Cardon Cardona.” By 2007, two comedies managed to
penetrate the taste of the local public with the responsibility of maintaining the projection of
Dominican cinema. “Sanky Panky” by José Enrique Pintor, the second film of his career that,
after the drama “La Cárcel de la Victoria: el cuatro hombre” (2004), takes the path of comedy,
managing to connect with the commercial hook and transmitting all the guarantee for
commercial success by proposing the story of the young Genaro and the other film that
accompanied this comedy was the debut within this genre of the publicist Archie López with
“My girlfriend is a mother”, another Comedy that also allowed the debut as an actor comedy
for the cinema of Roberto Ángel Salcedo. The proposal for the drama corresponded to Alfonso
Rodríguez Zorilla who, with his third film, offers a better panorama to define a constant in
Dominican cinema. “(Yuniol)” is the opportunity for Alfonso to work on social criticism with the
lives of two young people who live in different social positions, but whose life circumstances
place them on the same level, and other films that set precedents in Dominican cinema.

In 2009, more than ten film projects were announced, but only four fiction films and two
feature-length documentaries were released in movie theaters. All of them had the intention
of guaranteeing a greater flow of spectators and motivation for investors who are still
reluctant to bet openly on this Caribbean cinema. You could also see the documentary “History
of Dominican Baseball” by filmmaker Miguel Vásquez, a historical compendium on the sport
that has the most roots in the Dominican people.

For the year 2010, between the swings of intentions and the promises of structuring a solid
base to create a local film industry, productions continued, “La noga” by Josh Crook and
starring Manny Pérez, which was widely accepted by the public.

In 2011 seven films make their appearance, new directors make their contributions and as if
this were not enough Archie López hits one of the box office hits of the year with “Lotoman”,
which unites the talents once again, of Raymond Pozo and Miguel Céspedes.

Since the application of Law No. 108-10 for the Promotion of Cinematographic Activity in the
Dominican Republic, an upward curve was immediately verified in terms of the
cinematographic production and exhibition of Dominican films. Since 2012, more and more
national films have been released, with the years of 2014 and 2015 being well favored, which
closed with 19 Dominican productions presented in theaters. In 2016, a set of films continues
that, in one way or another, try to establish the route along which national cinema must travel,
facing the challenges to come, supported by Law No. 108-10 for the Promotion of
Cinematographic Activity in the Dominican Republic and guaranteed by the executions of the
General Directorate of Cinema (DGCINE). It was also a good year for the documentary genre,
expanding the billboard with interesting proposals that were marked by the human side and
the social perspective.

For the year 2019, the productive growth is evident with the films released during this period.
The 27 film productions showed the interest of the producers in diversifying the themes and
reinforcing the genre of comedies with formulas already tested in cinema and adapting them
to the local context and also offered a quota for documentary cinema with productions that
covered both the ecological like the historical.

The Caribbean, one of the first regions of the New World to be explored and colonized by
Europeans, is also one of the least understood geographic areas in the world. The global
media, dominated by the United States, has promoted a tourist vision of this region as having
the bluest seas and the whitest sands. With respect to Caribbean cinema, there is only a
certain amount of information about films like Cool Runnings, a Disney title set in Jamaica, or
about the many North American films that use the Caribbean as an exotic backdrop. Even
Caribbean residents have limited knowledge about Caribbean filmmakers and their films. They
have no idea that the Cuban Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was nominated for the Oscar for Strawberry
and Chocolate (1993), nor that the Martinican Euzhan Palcy was the first black woman to
direct a film produced by a Hollywood studio, A Dry White Season ( 1989).

Cinema has been integrated into the cultural, economic and social development of the
Caribbean since its arrival in these lands. Unfortunately, Caribbean people have associated the
idea of cinema with the consumption of foreign products, mostly North American. Meanwhile,
it should be noted that in Guyana and Trinidad large segments of the population have been
influenced by films made in India. These Bollywood productions have not only provided
entertainment for thousands of descendants of Indian immigrants, but also affected social
relations and provided a sense of self and identification with typical Indian cultural practices.
Many Caribbean people have been and continue to be devotees of foreign films, and
numerous writers from the region, such as VSNaipaul and Earl Lovelace, have commented on
the impact and influence of such films on the inhabitants of this region.

Cinema has contributed to shaping the image of the Caribbean, as there are hundreds of films
filmed in the Caribbean or that take this geographical area as part of their plot. Most of these
films exploit the natural beauty of the region and its tropical settings. The use of the
Caribbean, as an exotic location, continues to this day.
Although North Americans and Europeans have shown a negative or stereotypical portrait of
Caribbean people, many governments in this region actively promote their landscapes as
potential locations, which would anticipate advantages in the tourism sector and economic
development. These governments are aware of the multiple financial benefits that film
production brings to local economies.

Jamaica has established a film office that offers incentives to foreign producers, while Puerto
Rico exploits its political status with North America in order to bolster film production.
Meanwhile, such film production can generate resources for local economies, especially for
local suppliers, technicians and extras. On the other hand, it is possible that such co-
productions are detrimental to local talent, since local technicians and actors prefer to work as
extras or third assistants and be paid in US dollars, rather than contribute to the local
production of their colleagues for very little. pay.

Caribbean film and video makers are part of this group of creators who express a unique
Caribbean experience and illustrate local resources against tremendous obstacles. Despite the
smallness of resources and capital, these creators have produced excellent works, but most of
them do not reach a mass audience either in the Caribbean or in other countries. The history
of Caribbean cinema and the key names in the cinema of this region remain unknown to
almost all audiences, including the Caribbean.

However, it is difficult to define Caribbean cinema just as it is difficult to define Caribbean

identity. While the African presence is a key factor in the definition of Caribbean societies and
cinema, essentialist positions should not be assumed. The Harder They Come (1973), the
archetypal Jamaican film in terms of depicting the realities of the black working class, was
directed by a white Jamaican, Perry Henzell. Therefore, Caribbean cinema represents the
typical hybridization of this region, with directors of European, Indian, Chinese origin, and of
the most diverse origins, linked to the cinematographic process.

The search for the definition of a Caribbean film reflects the theoretical journey that must be
undertaken when someone investigates and explores the geographical and imaginary limits of
the Caribbean. In the era of globalization and migration, the definition of Caribbean identity
offered by the Guadeloupan filmmaker Christian Lara in a 1982 interview is not very astute. It
stipulates five requirements that determine a film to qualify as Antillean or Caribbean. He
believes that “the director must be from the Caribbean, the theme and story must be
Caribbean, the leading actor or actress must be from here, Creole must be used as the
language, and the production unit must be the same.” Lara points to this last requirement
from a legal point of view because, as he thinks, “every film adopts the nationality of the
producer.”

Many countries have similar difficulties in defining what a national film is, and, for example,
Canadians use an elaborate point system to determine Canadian identity. If we accepted Lara's
definition, there are very few films that are classified as Caribbean, we would even have to
exclude even Lara's first film, titled Une glace avec deux boules, which was filmed in France.
Martinican critic Alain Menil believes that while Lara Adieu Foulard's film meets all the
requirements, that does not necessarily mean that the film represents something new. Menil
believes that it is not enough to color the screen and season it with dialogues in Creole or
reproduce postcard-style locations.

Menil's call for a Caribbean identity is significant, but also very difficult to define. Guy Cabort-
Masson, a Martinique critic who organized the Images Caräibes (a pan-Caribbean film festival
that was inaugurated in Martinique in 1988), rejected the films of Willy Rameau (born and
raised in France, but with Martinique parents) and also the works from other authors settled in
France, since they had nothing to do with what he called the Images of the Caribbean. He
called these films “Negropolitan” and considered these works to belong to the diaspora, not
the Caribbean. However, it is of interest that it included a Canadian film that documented the
capitalist exploitation and miserable living conditions of Haitian sugar workers in the
Dominican Republic. The critic considered that this film could take part in his festival because it
focused on the Caribbean political reality.

While there are numerous contradictions and difficulties in defining what Caribbean cinema is,
there is undoubtedly a good group of important works, in film and video, made in the
Caribbean. An analysis of Caribbean film and video and film makers in this region, as occurs in
literature, music, dance and other cultural expressions, helps define both the imaginary and
the real Caribbean. However, it can be said that we are experiencing the first days of cinema in
the region, because although cinema arrived here in 1896, Caribbean film is still in its infancy.
Apart from some exceptions, such as the production of ICAIC in Cuba, and Chris Blackwell in
Jamaica, there are few film producers in the region and there is no real film industry. Most
Caribbean filmmakers live in North America and Europe, and those who remain in their
countries work primarily on short films and video documentaries.

The work of the main filmmakers is very different in terms of theme and style, although there
are a significant number of similarities that must be explored. One of the advantages of
researching new cinema is that almost all the filmmakers are still alive. So one can interview
them to gain more knowledge about their personal achievements. The life and work of these
filmmakers is a key resource, as there are very few books on cinema in Caribbean countries.
Mbve Cham's book, Ex-iles, Essays on Caribbean Cinema is one of the best and most
understandable, although it does not include the Hispanic Caribbean, and this omission
prevents the analysis not only of Cuban cinema, but also of Puerto Rican and Dominican
cinema. Keith Warner's book, On Location, concentrates entirely on the English-speaking
Caribbean, while Osange Silou wrote only about the French West Indies. Emerging cinema in
Caribbean countries that speak Spanish, English, French or Dutch represents a small but
significant group of works that require additional research and support. Caribbean films, as
they have their own cultural and artistic identity, are the beginning for the definition of an
aesthetic and a sustainable potential in the film industries of the region.