DRGFF
Begins Its Journey to Visit World’s Most Renowned
Film Festivals Park City, Utah, January
26, 2009
The
Dominican Republic Global Film Festival (DRGFF), an
initiative of Global Foundation for Democracy and
Development (GFDD)
and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE),
attended the 2009 edition of the Sundance Film
Festival, which took place January 15 – 25 in Park
City, Utah. This year the world’s most prominent
independent film festival celebrated 25 years of
presenting new voices and means of transmitting
stories through film. DRGFF was there to participate
in the celebration, which commenced its 2009 journey
to attend the most distinguished film festivals
worldwide in order to identify the international
cinematographic works that will be premiered in the
Dominican Republic during the third edition of the
Festival.
Asunción Sanz
The Festival team,
represented by DRGFF Promotion and Marketing
Director Asunción Sanz and DRGFF Local Production
Director Yamile Eusebio, participated in the event
in an effort to increase awareness of the
Festival’s vision and mission, as a means of
supporting the advancement of the cinematographic
industry in the Dominican Republic, and thus the
development of the country.
Yamile Eusebio
Participation in
Sundance also provided the Festival team with the
opportunity to become familiar with the latest
industry trends, first hand, from some of the
world’s most innovative artists and vanguard
projects – trends that will impact the growth and
quality of GFDD and FUNGLODE projects in the area
of audiovisual arts, amongst them initiatives
realized by the Global Media Arts Institute.
During its 25 years, Sundance has identified new
voices, innovative styles and provocative
perspectives that have forged new channels of
cinematographic creation and artistic expression
worldwide.
Over 200 Films
More than 200 films
were presented over the course of 10 days, some of
which DRGFF hopes to share with the Dominican
public during the third edition of its Festival,
which will be celebrated November 18-22, 2009. In
addition to the film categories featured every
year --US Documentary Competition; US Dramatic
Competition; World Cinema Documentary Competition;
World Cinema Dramatic Competition; Premiers;
Spectrum; New Frontier; Park City at Midnight;
From the Collection; Animation Spotlight; and
Shorts -- this year in celebration of its 25th
anniversary, Sundance presented Storytime Project,
which included some of the most memorable Festival
moments told by the directors, actors and leaders
of the project.
“During our time at
Sundance we were able to meet and connect with
many of our partners and invited guests from past
Festivals and had the opportunity to converse with
them about new projects and ideas related to this
year’s Festival,” commented Sanz.
DRGFF plays a leading
role in nurturing film culture in the Dominican
Republic by bringing the best of international
narrative and documentary film to a wide audience.
The Festival raises awareness and deepens
understanding of global challenges while using
film as a modern platform for the discussion of
political, social and economic issues. It supports
capacity building, provides network opportunities
for Dominican professionals and fosters the
development of a strong and sustainable national
film industry.
