Versión Españo
Santo Domingo, Nov 18, 2012
Dominicans Coming Home: Interview with Gabriel Lopez and Mike Collado, NY-Dominicans who will produce films in the DR

(Santo Domingo, Nov 18, 2012).-Mike Collado, born in Santiago, is the director of the short film Por Amor (For Love), based on a true story about domestic violence , an issue Mike and leading actor Gabriel Lopez feel very strongly about.  “Domestic violence is an epidemic everywhere in the world and we wanted to shed light on how the violence destroys families,” said Gabriel Lopez.

Gabriel, actor and producer whose parents are from Bonao, was at the 2011 FCGD as a cast member of Jonathan Ullman’s GWB.

Mike Collado, producer/photographer and now director with 15 years experience in film, TV and Internet marketing, spent the last 22 years in New Jersey and New York where he went to university and embarked on his film and audiovisual career.

 

Time to Give Back

Gabriel’s acting career also began in New York but now both talented Dominicans have decided it is time to give back to their home country.

“We are setting up a production company in Santo Domingo and Santiago. It is called the Genius Group,” said Mike. “We expect to be set up by February 2013.”

“There is a lot of talent here in the DR,” said Gabriel. “But there is also a lot of undiscovered and unfulfilled talent. Those are the people we want to help. We want to give some new actors a chance.”

Mike and Gabriel said their production company, Grupo de Genios in Spanish, seeks to create jobs for Dominicans and to develop more outlets for their work.

“We intend to make sit-coms, short films, series, features…all kinds of audiovisuals for Dominicans to express themselves. We want Dominicans to play Dominican roles,” said Gabriel.