Versión Españo
Santo Domingo, Nov 18, 2012
Dominicans Coming Home: Award-Winning Screenwriter Hiram Martinez of Girl in Progress

(Santo Domingo, Nov 18, 2012).-Hiram Martinez was 12-years-old when he left his home in Santo Domingo for his new home in New Jersey, like so many Dominicans.

He went to high school in New Jersey then on to university where he soon dropped out because “I spent most of my time writing dialogue for…I guess, for a film I might make one day.”

Hiram refers to his first film, Four Dead Batteries, as an indie film he made “to teach myself how not to make a film.”

But it wouldn’t be long before Hiram certainly learned how to write for film, which he taught himself through discipline and hard work.

Hiram gave some practical advice at a screenwriting workshop last Friday at the Filo Café of the Juan Bosch Library as part of the 6th Dominican Global Film Festival (FGCD) panel series. He told students they need discipline and to force themselves to sit down and write a certain number of pages daily, at least five, in his own case.

Girl in Progress (Educando a Mama in Spanish), starring Eva Mendez and Cierra Ramirez whose astounding acting stole the show, according to many, is Hiram’s first major commercial screenwriting achievement to date.  Patricia Riggen, of Under that Same Moon, directed the film.

Hiram visits his parents and family in the Dominican Republic at least once a year. He confesses that the DR is always in his heart and that he would love to come back here one day and make a film in Spanish.

“There is so much enthusiasm for film here, as seen with this amazing Film Festival,” he said.

“My great hope is to make a movie here and tell a story from the Dominican point of view. While our stories, like everyone’s, are universal, there is an essence here that you could never capture elsewhere,” said Hiram.