The 8th Dominican Film Festival New York is in Manhattan and Brooklyn from July 23-28, 2019. From $15
This is New York’s film festival of movies made in the Dominican Republic and by the Dominican diaspora. You can meet industry filmmakers and actors, and take workshops for aspiring movie makers. It’s a great way to network with our Dominican film community.
Most of the movies are in Spanish, but with English subtitles. Most of the festival’s conversations are in Spanish.
8th Dominican Film Festival New York
This year’s Festival includes an opening night red carpet, screenings, a family day and parties.
#DFFNYC #DFFNYC2019 #AmaTuCine #ElCineNosUne
Opening Night
The red carpet screening is the New York Premiere of Raul Camilo’s heartwarming Dominican film Lo que siento por ti (What I feel for you) at the United Palace in Washington Heights, NYC on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 at 8pm. $30
Join the after party which includes the screening for $125.
Lo que siento por ti weaves three stories about the challenges of disabled children and their parents in this feature film debut.
Ana, mother of two autistic sons, struggles daily with the misconceptions her neighbors and relatives have about autism.
Jorge and Diana are going to be parents after trying for a long time, but now they will have to give their disabled son the same love they feel for each other.
Luis, a young man with Down’s Syndrome, earns a spot in the Special Olympics of Latin America in Puerto Rico, for which he receives training from his selfless father.
The movie stars Nashla Bogaert, Frank Perozo, Félix Germán, and Josue Guerrero. It won awards at the Premios La Silla and Iris Dominican Movie Awards (Dominican film awards), and the Premios Soberanos (Dominican music awards).
Get tickets at www.eventbrite.com
Closing Night
Closing night movie is the Northeast Premiere of Félix Germán’s Dominican drama La Isla Rota (Broken Island) at Cinépolis, Chelsea on July 28, 2019 at 9pm. $30
A closing party which includes the screening is $125.
Guy, a Haitian boy escaping from poverty, witnesses the murder of his parents at the Dominican border. Taken in by a Haitian couple who adopts him, Guy grows up working in the country’s sugar cane fields.
He wants to seek revenge on Abes, the man who murdered his parents, but dictator Trujillo’s October 1937 military massacre of more than 30,000 Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent forces Guy to flee again. Together with his newfound love Meuda, the couple escapes back to Haiti in search of a new life.
Shorts
The Dominican in the Diaspora Part 1 program includes the world premiere of Nelson Estevez’ US crime drama Tubby Hook on Sunday, August 4, at 3pm. $15
“Tubby Hook” is the old name for Inwood, Manhattan’s northernmost neighborhood which today is a gentrifying Dominican community. Estevez imagines what might happen when two Dominicans and an Irishman walk into a bar back in the early 1980s when Inwood was a bit tougher than it is now.
The three young hoods had robbed the Irish mob which used to run uptown. Despite their obvious differences, they had to come together to pull off the job. As often happens when people get together, one of them comments that, “I didn’t realize we have so much in common” (and he’s not talking about criminality).
Anyway, the boys go to an Irish bar to split up the loot because they think nobody will think to look for them there. But the mob has been tipped off so things get dicey.
Estevez is a martial artist so there is a lot of action. He was inspired by an old newspaper article about an undercover Irish cop who shot a Dominican kid in Inwood back in 1979.
Dominican Film Festival Venues
The opening night red carpet is at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights.
The main theater and closing night are at Cinépolis Chelsea.
There are also events at the Alianza Dominican Cultural Center and Comisionado Dominicano de Cultura en USA in Washington Heights, and in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Dominican Film Festival Tickets
Single films are $15. Festival passes are available from $40-$80.
Get tickets at www.dominicanfilmfestival.com