April 21, 2010

Producers of “The Rope” and “P-Star Rising” accepted the awards bestowed upon them by the Dominican people. The films were selected as the best feature film and best musical documentary, respectively, in last November’s III Dominican Republic Global Film Festival (DRGFF in Spanish).

The awards presentation took place on Wednesday April 21, 2010 at the New York office of the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) - Global Foundation Development and Democracy (GFDD)- in an event organized by the executive body of FUNDLODE/GFDD along with film festival directors and organizing team.

Asunción Sanz, Director of Institutional Relations for the Festival presented the award to Gabriel Noble and Marjan Tehrani, of “P-Star Rising.”

Yamile Eusebio, member of the FUNGLODE Board of Directors, did the honors for Manny Pérez and Josh Crook in recognition of their film, “The Rope.”

The event was meant to encourage and stimulate the winning film directors and producers to continue their good work and pursue interesting projects in the world of film.

The awards ceremony took place within the framework of an organizational meeting underway in New York of DRGFF board members as they gathered to plan the IV Dominican Global Film Festival, to be held November 16-21. With the challenge of consolidating the success of previous festivals, organizers are developing a series of promotion and organizational activities throughout the Dominican Republic and abroad.

Viewers who attended the Festival’s 30 film screenings of the 2009 DRGFF voted massively to select the films and documentaries that most impacted them; “The Rope” and “P-Star Rising” were the two that won that honor.

More than 30,000 people attended the third annual film festival in the Dominican Republic which was held simultaneously in five different locations around the country: Santo Domingo, Santiago, Puerto Plata, Nagua and Cap Cana.

The films were selected by the viewing public who filled out forms distributed at the end of every screening. In filling out the voting forms, viewers rated the films as: excellent, very good, good, fair and bad. Throughout the various screenings of “The Rope” (length 100-minutes), the film received high marks from the majority of viewers. The movie, which takes place between Santiago (DR) and Washington Heights (NY), is a crime story, a love story and an unrestricted analysis of the price of revenge.

Luisito (Manny Pérez) is the number one hit man under the Dominican Secret Police chief who totally controls him with the promise that he will one day hand over the man who killed Luisito’s father then fled to New York.

Luisito’s plan to avenge his father’s murder undergoes a change when he runs into Jenny (Denise Quiñones), his first love. Jenny’s tenderness makes him see the corruption that surrounds him. Full of raw energy and unequalled beauty, this incisive portrait of a murderer in search of redemption characterizes the directorial debut of Josh Crooks and main actor, writer and producer Manny Pérez.

“P-Star Rising” chronicles the story of the amazingly talented Priscilla Star who began her rap career under the name “P-Star” in Harlem when her age was still in the single digits. Currently she is one of the stars of the popular TV series, The Electric Company, which is animated with hip-hop music. This documentary follows the early life of Priscilla and her inspiring rise to fame.