Dominican Republic Cinema Gains Momentum at Huelva Festival As It Raises Its International Profile

variety.com:

Emiliano De Pablos One of the most robust of Latin America’s emerging film industries, Dominican Republic cinema boasts a standout presence at this year’s Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival.

On Monday, Nov. 13, following a two-year alliance inked at the Cannes Festival by Dominican Republic film commission DGCine and the Huelva Festival, four Dominican projects at development stage will be presented at an event intended for film producers interested in Ibero-American co-production. “The four projects are representative of the current Dominican cinema landscape, made by a new generation of filmmakers which demonstrates the diversity of voices and issues [addressed] in our film industry,” says Marianna Vargas Gurilieva, general director at DGCine. “Víctor Piñeyro’s ‘El sueño’ is a universal and popular story, interesting for its references; Karlina Veras’ ‘La mansa’ has a singular tone, with passages through Spain; a striking project, Juliano Kunert’s “Maguana Racing” offers a tremendously peculiar premise, and Yinna de la Cruz’s ‘Postpartum’ tells another popular and universal story, with the possibility of integrating a Spanish cast,” she explains.

Dominican prominence at Huelva extends to the festival’s main competition with Gabriella A. Moses’s film “Boca Chica,” after its successful world premiere at Tribeca, where it won the Nora Ephron Award.

At Cannes, Huelva Festival and DGCine inked a collaboration deal to work together to carry out activities that promote co-production between Spain and the Dominican Republic in the 49th and 50th Huelva editions. “We have been working with Dominican institutions and festivals for years and programming their filmmakers’ works,” argues Huelva Festival director Manuel H.