President Danilo Medina has appointed Yvette Altagracia Marichal Carvajal to be the new director of DGCine, the local film office. Resigning former director Ellis Perez will stay on as honorary advisor to the President on film matters, according to Decree 390-13. The office has overseen the process of promoting film production in the DR.
In her first interview after the appointment, Marichal told Diario Libre that she would provide continuity to DGCine’s work and is bringing her own ideas. “One of the things that I will do from day one is to prove what each movie, whether national or foreign, contributes to the country, whether in direct jobs created, taxes paid and collateral work it creates,” she said. She told Diario Libre that “there is a lack of awareness of the Movie Law. Sometimes one sees things that are written that instead of contributing, detract from the necessary social understanding of the topic,” she said. Marichal says: “The movie industry contributes to the GDP and I will do everything possible, because we will soon be able to see in figures what it contributes to the national economy… This law makes a great contribution to socio-cultural and economic development in the Dominican Republic.”
The DR incentives law, which grants up to 25% income tax credits, has served to stimulate the movie-making industry in the country. On Tuesday, 31 December 2013, El Dia reported that 19 films already have release dates for 2014 and have RD$1.5 billion in tax credits approved by the government. The newspaper reports that another nine are on the drawing board for release in 2015. The report says that while before the film promotion law was passed movies cost RD$5 to RD$15 million to produce, films now cost more than RD$30 million and as much as RD$89 million that is budgeted for the production of a biopic of businessman Victor Mendez Capellan (Girasoles).
Prior to her appointment, Marichal served as director of public relations and marketing for the Global Foundation Film Festival (Funglode). She is a graduate with a Master of Science (MS) in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies from the University of San Francisco. She studied at Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo.
The daughter of Juan Marichal, the Dominican Republic’s only Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame member, Yvette is married to Hector Anibal Estrella Pantaleon, son of Adalgisa Pantaleon, one of the female vocalists with Juan Luis Guerra 4-40 band.
Estado se desprendió de más de 1, 504 millones para películas
www.diariolibre.com/revista/2014/01/02/i421931_yvette-marichal-hay-mucho-desconocimiento-ley-cine.html