Versión Españo
Santo Domingo, Nov 18, 2012
Dominicans Coming Home: Freddy Vargas Sees the DR as a Potential Film Powerhouse

(Santo Domingo, Nov 18, 2012).-Filmmaker Freddy Vargas, native of San Francisco province, left the Dominican Republic at the age of 17 to gain filmmaking knowledge and fulfill his dreams.  He admits the country has really changed since then.  “Now, all these years later, the DR is poised to eventually become a film powerhouse. With the Film Law, up-and-coming filmmakers and so many people with acting and writing talent, our film industry can really take off here,” said Vargas. “Just this year, 22 movies were made in the DR.”

Freddy was part of the VI Dominican Global Film Festival’s panel series.  He gave a workshop on “The Value of the Short Film” at the Technological Institute of the Americas (ITLA). He said he had an enthusiastic crowd of students, eager for knowledge, at the panel.

He said the Dominican Republic is making amazing progress in the area of short films. In fact, he thinks some are even better than the feature films being made. “I have a lot of faith in this generation that are making films in the country today.”

Vargas, who visits the DR about 4 times a year, closed the International Film Exhibition of Santo Domingo in 2008, with Pinchos & Rolos, which he is intending to make into his first feature film in 2013. In 2012, he made his first documentary, Los Rostros Detrás de las Muñecas, about the Dominican women who work at the famous Alexander Dolls factory in New York. One of his current projects is Milk of Hope with well-known Dominican actress Cheddy García.