News

“Film Law 108-10 Brought RD$2.2 Billion in Revenue to the Dominican Republic since 2011” Stresses Yvette Marichal of the General Directorate of Film During New York City Presentation

Wednesday April 19th, 2017

New York City – The Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) in partnership with the Dominican Republic’s Commissioner of Culture in New York, and as part of its Dominican Film Showcase program, delighted audience members on Wednesday April 19 with an interactive presentation by Yvette Marichal, Executive Director of the General Directorate of Film of the Dominican Republic, titled “A Review of Film Law in the Dominican Republic: Six Years of Constant Growth”.

The event took place before a packed auditorium at the offices of the Commissioner of Dominican Culture in Washington Heights in New York.

Yamile Eusebio, GFDD’s Co-Executive Director, took the floor as moderator of the event to introduce the session. She then handed over the floor to Peddy García, Director of Audiovisual and Film of the Commissioner of Dominican Culture in New York, who provided the words of welcome thanking the audience members for such a strong turnout and GFDD for its support in organizing the event before underscoring the importance of the Dominican film industry for the country.

Eusebio then gave a brief introduction of Yvette Marichal, prior to her presentation on Film Law in the Dominican Republic.

Marichal provided the audience with an overview of the growth that has been experience within the film industry over the last 6 years. She explained that thanks to a mix of tax credits enabled through film law 108-10 the industry has experienced considerable growth since 2012. Marichal noted that films had collected RD$210.6 MM in 2016, having screened in over 29 cinemas across the country. In total, she underscored that the law had brought RD$2.2 billion in revenue to the economy of the Dominican Republic from 2011 to 2016.

Following Marichal’s presentation, Eusebio moderated a discussion between Marichal, García and the audience. Marichal fielded many questions from the audience ranging from the options for submitting film scripts to the General Directorate of Film of the Dominican Republic to the type of unions in existence within the industry to support film professionals in the Dominican Republic.

After a lively discussion Sugeiri Cristian and Cabbe Ferreira presented Yvette Marichal with an award to thank her for her contribution to the Dominican film industry over the last few years.

Eusebio then took the floor to deliver the closing remarks, thank the panelists and the audience members for participating, before inviting them to continue networking over a buffet reception.