Patria: A tribute to the Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo, DR
The Dominican Republic is a country full of colors and flavors, history and values, which has received countless tributes over the years, from the political to the artistic.

The immensity of beauty that permeates this island enchants both those who live there and those who visit it.

This Caribbean country is a mixture of colors that serve as inspiration to create the best canvases, the most moving music, and the most cultured poems in the world.

The vibrant green of the mountains, “the deep blue of the sky, the white sigh of the moon and the red flash of the sun” form the best sunsets.

This country’s richness is reflected in the documentary “Homeland: A Tribute to the Dominican Republic” by the poet Juarez Victor Castillo.

In the audiovisual, with a duration of 20 minutes, you can see 114 poetic images by photographer Domingo Batista that can only be captured in this country.

Although it is not necessary to focus on the object to make magic with a camera because (…) it is already in focus, it is fantastic in every corner of it discovered and to be found.

The divinity that dazzles this nation is appreciated through Batista’s photographs, which make a perfect conjunction with Castillo’s composition.

The collection of portraits and the poetry of this video create a harmony from which there is no way to separate.

Castillo said that this poem titled “Patria” was written as a tribute to the flag. A canvas that symbolizes not only how much the DR means from a material point of view but also the values and history behind its making.

His purpose with this work is not only documentary: “We were blessed by the Lord, with a homeland based on very high values. That is why our motto is God, Homeland and Freedom.”

He confessed that the relationship with Batista allowed him to search his photo albums and choose the necessary ones for the composition’s lyrics.

According to Castillo, the purpose of this musical theme is to build a tribute to the Dominican Republic and encourage Dominicans and those who perceive us from the outside.

The Dominican loves his people, -he says- “the fact that he does not show it very often does not mean that he does not have it.”

This video was published on February 26, the day of Natalio Juan Pablo Duarte, father of the Dominican homeland.

Its author does not pretend anything new or strange with it but demonstrates that: “We are Dominicans, ethnically, politically and spiritually. And that is what Duarte perceived as a national project.

He said, moved, that creating a poetic work for his country and expressing what he feels through poetry is something innate that coincides with the feelings and actions of all those born on this half island.

“In the Trinitarian oath, Duarte swears before God to create the DR. He had a commitment with the Lord. That is why what I did is a tribute, a thank you, a call to love our homeland.”

Information about the producer

Juárez Víctor Castillo is an intense lawyer who practices in different branches of law, but also an amateur and cultivator of poetry and music.

Castillo has created audiovisuals about the Dominican Republic since 1993 when the first work entitled “El Banquito de Coral” was released, highlighting the beauty of this land.

Information about the artist

Domingo Bastita is a professional photographer. He directed the “Grupo Fotográfico Jueves 68” in 1969, where he developed his artistic career, influenced by the Dominican visual arts; since then, he has been considered the master of Dominican photographic art.

In his career, he has had more than 70 solo and group exhibitions in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. His work has earned him more than 30 national and international awards.

Fragment in prose of the audiovisual text

The poem, interpreted by the author himself, describes the Dominican flag as a “velvet butterfly…” that today overflows our souls so deeply…

A white sigh of the moon… A red gleam from the sun… A deep blue like the sky… A silver cross over the sea…

That which lulls the stars in the night… Far beyond the breeze in the palm grove…

What your waves whisper… When they caress your sand… Beyond the wind and the salt…

Beyond the crystalline murmur of your rivers… Of the kiss of the dew on the green cheek of your pastures… Beyond the magical mist of the twilight… When it falls on your mountains… To rest.

What are you? … Velvet butterfly… If not a golden bunch of pure illusions… The brave and undefeated will of duty… The stoic achievement of sweat… The little victory of tears and dreams… of all… of all your brave men… The resounding of bugles and drums… in love with that dawn…

Lying down, you are… Homeland… Silent… Perennial… In that lofty dimension where you live together… Our today… Our tomorrow… And our yesterday… As a beautiful sanctuary of courage… Like a sacred Altar… Where only the Golden Angels officiate… of our Freedom.

You have been the sailboat of light, of so many hopes… The infinite reason for so many sleepless nights, of so many endeavors… The sacred north of the noble souls… of so many and so many… already gone…-