Santo Domingo.– "Sand Dollars" (Dolares de Arena), the Dominican Republic’s official entry to the Oscars, was chosen by NBCNews.com among the ten knockout latino films that are worth every minute.
Based on the novel by Jean-Noel Pancranzi, Les Dollars de Sables, Sand Dollars tells the story of a lesbian love for money scheme and is directed by the wife-husband team, Dominican born Laura Amelia Guzman and her Mexico native husband Israel Cardenas.
The film stars Geraldine Chaplin as an unhappy wealthy older European woman who travels to the Dominican Republic in search of sun, beach, and sex. She falls in love and lust with a young and poor, but cunning, local girl who trades her body for money and hopefully, to escape poverty.
The film explores a topic of class, exploitation, inequality, and politics and according to NBCnews.com, "it is worth the time for the beautifully shot scenes alone."