Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic Industries Association (AIRD) executive vice president Circe Almánzar and Lantica Media CEO Antonio Gennari on Thursday announced an agreement to develop and promote Dominican films as part of the "Competitiveness and Innovation Cultural Development Cluster Project: Cine as Brand.
This project is part of the Competitiveness Support Program II, enacted by the National Competitiveness Council (CNC), with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
In statement, the institutions said the among the activities arising from the agreement will be a study on cinema’s economic impact on the Dominican Republic, a comprehensive training plan, a plan to design the growth of films, create a forecasting tool that can generate industry projections for the next five years, identify mechanisms to support the construction of a country-brand through film, as well as a series of benchmarks.
The Film Cluster is formed by members from across cinema’s value chain, including studios, producers, actors, writers, government agencies and private support, film critics, exhibitors, financing, distributors, technicians, developers, among others.
Cultural industries are among the world’s fastest-growing segments and represent a significant percentage of some countries’ exports, the AIRD and Lantica said .
The creative industries have untapped economic potential, contribute positively to the economy of innovation and have a significant impact on other economic sectors through the supply chain. It also has tremendous potential to create jobs.
Also present in the activity were CND deputy director Laura del Castillo,, Cine Agency Industrial liaison Nicole Brugal and Cine Cluster coordinador Humberto Castellanos.
Productions
In a recent luncheon to honor Caribbean Council executive director David Jessop, Antonio Gennari told Dominican Today that Lantica Media, formerly Indomina Studios, will support as many as five major film productions at its studios in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic each year. “We have embarked on a calendar full of film projects for the next three years.”