(Santo Domingo, nov 18, 2012).- “When I told my 93-year-old Dominican grandmother that I was going to Santo Domingo, she said ‘Why?’,” jokes the New York-born Dominican, Gary Terracino who is visiting the DR for the first time in his life and loves it here.
“My grandfather was jailed under Trujillo so, once they were able to flee, that’s what they did. I was raised in the States and for a variety of reasons, this is the first time I have come here,” said Terracino.
Terracino, who works with the New York International Latino Film Festival for the past 13 years, has nothing but praise for the Dominican Global Film Festival (FCGD).
“The Festival is well-organized, well-run and the people are so warm and welcoming,” he said. He added that he would love to make his next film here in the DR.
Elliot Loves, Terracino’s first feature film, is about a handsome gay Dominican-American, early twenties, who is charming and charismatic but can’t seem to keep a relationship for more than several weeks. The film goes back and forth from the 21-year-old Elliot to the 9-year-old Elliot who lives with his young single mother who also can’t seem to find a stable relationship with a kind man.
The film, which showed on Friday at the Agora Mall’s Cinema Palace, evoked a lengthy and thought provoking discussion afterwards. While part of the film showed the travails of Elliot as he sought love in his world of gay men, many in the audience agreed that the issues in the film were universal: human being’s search for love, acceptance, stability and happiness.