GFDD and FUNGLODE hosts Dominican Film Showcase at the Organization of American States in collaboration with Art Museum of the Americas, Dominican Embassy to the US, and the Dominican Mission to the OAS

Wednesday July 13th, 2011

Washington DC, 7/13/2011
GFDD and FUNGLODE will be sponsoring a Dominican Film Showcase at the OAS, during which four films closely associated with the DR will be screened — two of them directed by Dominican filmmakers.

The presence of the Dominican community is well acknowledged in cities across the United States and its culture, music, and traditions are quickly becoming household references, however, the country’s film industry still remains relatively unknown.

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development aims to change this by showcasing a sample of the best films produced recently in the Dominican Republic, by Dominican filmmakers, about Dominican topics.

Beginning in Washington DC, the Dominican Film Showcase will present, share, and celebrate the stories, characters and history of the Dominican Republic with an international audience. The selected films, Sugar, Love Child, Jean Gentil, and The Republic of Baseball will cover a wide array of social themes, and present four interesting slices of Dominican life, which will be discussed with their directors and producers following each screening.

The Dominican Film Showcase further aims to:

• Facilitate the enrichment of the film culture of the Dominican Republic and bring its unique brand of cinema to a wider audience
• Utilize the seventh art as a platform for discussion and as a medium for enhancing social awareness and promoting constructive change
• Raise awareness internationally of issues of historic and cultural importance to the DR community
• Cultivate an appreciation of Dominican cinematographic talent
• Encourage the advancement and funding for DR film and multimedia productions
• The films will be shown every evening from July 19-22 at 6:30pm, at the Art Museum of the Americas, located at 201 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006.

Sugar
Date of Screening: July 19 at 6:30PM

Internationally acclaimed film Sugar, portraying a fictional account of an aspiring Dominican pitcher, 19-year-old Miguel Santos. Santos, as well as many other players in the DR, is observed by an American scout seeking out those players who might be good enough to compete in the US. Santos impresses with his curveball and wins a contract to play for a fictional minor league team in Iowa.

Aside from language and cultural issues, the focus of his struggle is the game. When the Dominican players arrive, the American coach explains that they have to work very hard because the competition is rough, there are simply far more players than positions for them to fill. And it is the case that the vast majority of minor league players do not make it to the majors.

• Title in Spanish: Sugar
• Title in English: Sugar
• Country: USA
• Completed: 2008
• Duration: 114 mins.
• Language: English with Spanish Subtitles
• Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

 

Love Child
Date of Screening: July 20 at 6:30PM

Dominican Director, Leticia Tonos first feature-length film focuses on the story of María, a teenager who is sent to live with her father after her mother’s death. Together they inhabit a haunted Dominican plantain field and face the “ghosts” of the past and present. María, daughter of a single mother, must come to terms with a previously unknown father who had only been present in her life as an absent figure that her mother had never forgotten. The film is dedicated to single mothers of the world and their children.

• Títle (Spanish): La Hija Natural
• Título (English): Love Child
• Country: Dominican Republic
• Completed: 2010
• Duration: 96 Min.
• Language: Spanish

 

Jean Gentil
Date of Screening: July 21 at 6:30PM

The feature length film, Jean Gentil, is the work of Mexican-Dominican husband-wife team Israel Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzman. Based on the life of a real man named Jean Remy Genty, a Haitian immigrant living in Santo Domingo who got to know Guzman when she took Haitian Creole lessons with him, the film is the result of the directors’ desire to explore the experiences of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic.

• Title (Original): Jean Gentil
• Title (English): Jean Gentil
• Country: Dominican Republic / Mexico / Germany
• Completed: 2010
• Duration: 84 min.
• Language: Haitian creole/Spanish
• Directores: Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas

 

The Republic of Baseball: Dominican Giants of the American Game
Date of Screening: July 22 at 6:30PM

The movie documents the tale of the first great baseball superstars from the Dominican Republic — Felipe Alou, Juan Marichal, Manny Mota, and Ozzie Virgil — and how they overcame poverty and dictatorship at home and racism in the United States on their way to greatness in the Major Leagues.

• Title (Original): The Republic of Baseball: The Dominican Giants of the American Game
• Country: Dominican Republic/ USA
• Completed: 2006
• Duration: 83 min.
• Language: English with Spanish Subtitles
• Director: Daniel Manatt

The film showcase is a GFDD program with the support of Organization of American States, the Art Museum of the Americas, the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in the US and the Dominican Mission to the OAS.