La Quinceañera will screen at San Diego Latino Film Festival

I received news a couple of weeks back that "La Quinceañera" will screen at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. For fourteen years, this festival has celebrated films and videos by Latinos and/or about the Latino experience. Each year approximately 100 film and video makers visit the festival, 18,000 locals attend and over 130 works are screened from across Latin America and throughout the United States. Its fitting that La Quinceañera will screen on the festivals 15th anniversary. I'm also very excited that it will screen in San Diego as the film was shot nearby in Tijuana, Mexico.

The film will screen in a program called TIJUANA
STORIES. It takes place at 5PM, on Saturday, March 8th at UltraStar Mission
Valley Cinemas at Hazard Center. It will screen with another documentary called: "Que Viva La
Lucha."

I will not be able to attend the festival, which I am disappointed about, but will be shooting "El Duque" (www.bachatamovie.com) in the Dominican Republic.

Website for "El Duque de la Bachata"

I have completed the website (www.bachatamovie.com) for the documentary that I currently have in production with the working title "El Duque de la Bachata." It will stay more or less in this form through production and post-production and will likely be revamped and updated when the film is completed and released. Some of the highlights of the website include the video teaser under "trailers" which features a merengue by Joan Soriano, "El Duque de la Bachata." The teaser also introduces us to his mother, father and family which live in rural Monte Plata on the outskirts of Santo Domingo and includes a couple scenes of his father dancing. I love the merengue that is featured in the teaser! It highlights Joan's guitar playing and has a distinctly Afro-Dominican feel which is evident in the chorus. This is a great merengue to dance to! Speaking of dancing the website also has two video clips of dancers under "music and dance." One clip is of two couples dancing to an older bachata by Juan Bautista in a Colmado and the other shows two couples dancing to a merengue, again in a colmado. Colmados in the Dominican Republic are more than corner stores but are places where people socialize, talk, dance, drink, and watch baseball. I will add other dance clips under music and dance that I recorded in the Dominican Republic on occasion. I am also producing a bachata and merengue dance instructional video that will have Dominicans showing us how its done in regions where the music actually originated and developed. Sign up to receive updates if you are interested in keeping up on these projects. www.bachatamovie.com

El Duque website almost complete

I am about to make live the El Duque website. The documentary is now in production and the website will make available information on the film . Check it out. www.bachatamovie.com