‘Love the Earth’ Film Series Comes to the Cinemateca Dominicana

With collaboration from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of the Environment, the Dominican Republic Film Commission (DGCINE) and the Year Round Environmental Screening Initiative of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF) celebrated the film series ‘Love the Earth’ from November 17 to 29 at the Cinemateca Dominicana, located in Santo Domingo’s Plaza de la Cultura.

The initiative has the overarching
goal of bringing about awareness of current difficulties surrounding natural resources around the world. Central to the struggle of this film series is the desire to open community members’ eyes to environmental harm resulting from industrialization, consumerism, and the excessive exploitation of our planet’s natural resources.

Among the documentaries screened during the festival were Death by a Thousand Cuts and
Biodiversity of the Dominican Republic, two Dominican productions that capture Dominican idiosyncrasies in every take and simultaneously present in a raw and striking manner the environmental challenges posed by our ecosystems.

Foreign documentaries that received excellent receptions during the festival were Banking Nature and Slingshot. While Banking Nature exposes the ignored reality of large
and multinational corporations’ monetization of the planet’s resources, Slingshot offers a breath of encouragement for viewers to strive for changes in quality of life around the world through leveraging synergies between technological breakthroughs and a love for nature.

Some other documentaries presented during the festival were All the Time in the World, How to Change the World, Boy
and the World, and The Wisdom to Survive.

During the film series, the Cinemateca Dominicana had the pleasure of receiving a diverse and motivated public that had clear interests in learning more about how they could best contribute to the conservation of the Earth’s natural resources.

Following each film screening, brief and informal Q&A sessions were held for audience members to express their opinions and
concerns over the issues presented on the big screen.

In accordance with its mission to foster a change in awareness and “provide through film a platform of knowledge and debate on actions that contribute to the protection of natural resources and to promote the importance of sustainable development in the Dominican Republic,” DREFF’s efforts have been prominently featured in the ‘Love the Earth’ film series.

Since 2011, GFDD has developed a series of programs that operate year-round in the Dominican Republic and substantially contribute to the country’s sustainable development. In addition to DREFF’s Year Round Environmental Film Screenings, prominent among them are: Eco-Huertos, ReCrearte, and the Globo Verde Dominicano Award.