Dominican Republic. -With great public attendance at the screenings and the participation of technicians, filmmakers and film students in the workshops, the 14th edition of the Santo Domingo Global International Film Festival crowned its successful closing with the film “A Movie About Couples” .
Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada’s film put notes of great humor and lucidity, demystifying the field of auteur cinema and revealing the realities and difficulties that exist in making a film today in the Dominican Republic.
The closing night was attended by the president of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (Funglode), Dr. Leonel Fernández, who heads the organizing committee; the director of the FCGSD, Omar de la Cruz; Marco Herrera, Executive Director of Funglode and the Ambassador of Chile, Romilio Gutiérrez.
Also during the event, the Dominican lawyer, playwright, historian and filmmaker Julio Samuel Sierra “Jimmy Sierra” was recognized for his great contributions to the preservation and promotion of Dominican identity through cinema, theater, literature and academia.
Hans García, director of the film “La Otra Lucha”, received the first recognition “Rigoberto López” which will be awarded every year from this edition, in honor of the outstanding Cuban film director, author of numerous documentaries of marked significance in the Cuban cinematography.
National and international film directors, as well as filmmakers and students gathered at the Palacio del Cine in Blue Mall to attend the closing ceremony, along with special guests. There, the winners were announced in the competitions for Opera Prima Fiction “Jimmy Sierra”, Opera Prima Documentary “Fernando Báez” and Global Short Competition.
There were more than 90 screenings of the 2022 edition of the Festival, which had Chile as its guest country, with a special dedication -with tribute- to the recently deceased African-American actor, Sidney Poitier.
Thanks to the support of the Palacio del Cine, the films were screened in its theaters in the Blue Mall, with a large audience.
awards
During the event, the winning films of the competition sections of the festival were presented.
First fiction opera “Jimmy Sierra”
COLD. by GessicaGeneu
Special mention:
Without Particular Signs of Fernanda Valadez
Opera prima documentary “Fernando Báez”
Map of Latin American Dreams by Martin Weber
Jury Special Mention:
Ginger´s Paradise
Global Short Competition
First place:
The name of the son – Martina Matzkin
Second place:
Aysha – Cengiz Akaygun
Third place:
BogdanMustata Good day y
Tree house, from Soo-min Park, South Korea.
Successful edition, after the pandemic
From January 24 to 30, the FCGSD presented a select list of more than 90 fiction and documentary films, as well as an extensive agenda of educational activities, which included talks and conferences, in which recognized figures linked to the film industry participated.
The 2022 edition marked a restart of the film event, after the suspension imposed in 2021 by the pandemic caused by Covid-19. With the necessary sanitary protocols, the event managed to take place without problems.
On the opening night, on January 24 at the National Theater, was the world premiere of the film “The Other Fight”, by the Dominican director Hans García, who was present at the event, as was part of the cast of the film. .
In addition, posthumous tribute was paid to the American actor Sidney Poitier, an artistic and social legend in the history of cinema, who has become much more than one of the last glories of old Hollywood.
Among the special guests of the FCGSD was the Haitian director Géssica Généus, winner of an Award and two nominations at the Cannes Film Festival, with her film “Freda”. The film delivers its vision of a Haitian youth that moves between uncertainty and the will to get ahead.
From Chile came the director Constanza Fernández and the composer and producer of music for audiovisuals, Ignacio Pérez Marín (A Fantastic Woman). During the festival several Chilean productions were presented, which allowed the Dominican public to learn more about the evolution of the film industry in the South American country.
The Santo Domingo Global Film Festival, as always, has its sponsors, DIAMANTE: ClaroVideo, Palacio del Cine, Distribuidora Corripio, Banreservas, Sigma Patroleum Corporation, Peña Defillo, Procomunicaciones, Plaza Lama, Hodelpa Nicolás de Ovando. PLATINUM: DGCine, Global Talks RD, Editorial Funglode, Cap Cana, Constructora BISONÓ, GFDD, IGlobal, BHD León, FinalPost RD, Funglode Films, Ginaka, Lantika, Ministry of Health RD, Colorin. And in addition, it has the support of various companies and institutions that make our event possible every year.
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