The documentary “Dominican Presidents in History (1844-1966): Challenges and Ironies of Power,” sponsored by Señales TV and Zinemapar Productions, will be released in theaters starting Thursday, December 2.
The documentary “Dominican Presidents in History (1844-1966)” was made under the auspices of the Film Law and was filmed in late 2020 during the didicult times of the pandemic. Filming locations included the cities of Jarabacoa and Moca, with direction by
Elvira Almonte and Euri Cabral. Technical direction was handled by Saulo Constanzo, while camera direction was overseen by Gerald Cruz, and the entire research process was led by Margarita Jiménez.
This week, the documentary “Dominican Presidents in History (1844-1966)” premieres in Dominican cinemas. It is a cinematic production that explores the governments, actions, and situations involving the 47 presidents our nation has had during this time period. This is the second historical documentary produced by our channel, Señales TV, under the auspices of the Film Law. In 2019, we produced and delivered “Gilbert, Hero of Two Peoples” to Dominican society, a cinematic work that rescued the image of this great Dominican patriot. We successfully advocated for the National Congress to declare him a National Hero, for January 10 to be designated as Gilbert Day, and for his remains, previously forgotten in the Máximo Gómez cemetery, to be moved to the Pantheon of the Fatherland.
With this new documentary, we continue our mission to instill values and contribute to a greater understanding of our nation’s historical past. Our goal is to provide new generations, particularly high school and university students, with engaging audiovisual tools for their learning process about Dominican history.
“Dominican Presidents in History” analyzes and presents a series of unique situations involving many of our leaders that are generally not taught in schools. For instance, few people know that we had an illiterate president, that four children of Dominican presidents
later became president themselves, that we had four presidents with Haitian ancestry, that one president served only two days in odice, and that another made every edort to annex our nation to the United States, even selling the Bay of Samaná, among many other surprising or unprecedented events.
The documentary is presented in a docudrama format, meaning there are dramatized moments to enhance the storytelling of the events narrated. It unfolds through a conversation between a mentor writing a book about Dominican presidents and his godson, who has political aspirations and wants to deeply understand the successes and failures of our leaders.
With this new documentary, we aim to show that through the Film Law, productions can be made that add value to society. At the same time, we want to help the public gain awareness of their historical trajectory, to understand it as broadly as possible, to reflect on who their role models in governance are, and to increase their commitment to continue building a nation filled with values, love for others, solidarity, forgiveness, humility, and social justice. Our final call is to urge all Dominican families not to miss the opportunity to go to the movies and enjoy “Dominican Presidents in History (1844-1966),” an entertaining history lesson they will never forget.
