Motifs of Dominican Cinema
Nia Acosta
Films are seen as cultural artifacts of the cultures where they are made. In the Dominican Republic, cinema is considered to be a fairly new visual art form. It has started to be used as a form of demonstration and exploration of the diverseness of the Dominican culture, However, very little has been written about it.
I wanted to make a contribution to the small, developing library of Dominican Cinema by conducting a study and gathering the motifs and themes that are prevalent throughout Dominican Cinema and connecting them to the country’s culture and society. This is shown through two mediums: a book and a website. The content of these two consists of a series of information divided into categories which can be cross-referenced and analyzed to further help elaborate the point of the films’ connection with society and vice versa. The book has a purpose to become the archival piece of the project and to be stored in the archives of the Dominican Cinematheque. The website is meant to cater to the growing community that Dominican Cinema has gathered through the years and be up to date with any new releases and topics.
I wanted to demonstrate throughout this project that cinema can be used as a tool of literacy and indoctrination of values that can benefit and teach its audience, as well as an ongoing visual archive of the culture of the Dominican Republic and its changing society.