Guerrilla filmmaking, Dominican style
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It isn’t easy making a movie in the Dominican Republic. When Michael Mann tried shooting part of ‘Miami Vice’ there in 2005, a gunfight broke out near the film set, prompting costar Jamie Foxx to leave the country and forcing further filming to Miami.
The filmmakers who made ‘La Soga,’ which recently earned several standing ovations at the Toronto International Film Festival, managed to finish their movie without anyone being killed, though they do have colorful stories, which include hiring a machete fighter to handle security. As ‘La Soga’ director Josh Crook put it: ‘Our motto when we wrapped each day was, ‘We didn’t die!’ ‘
As it turns out, ‘La Soga’ isn’t just the best film from the Dominican Republic ever to play in Toronto. Apparently, it’s also the only Dominican film ever to play there. I’d say it was worth the wait. Even though the Dominican Republic is best known for spawning baseball players, judging from ‘La Soga,’ the country could be a potential goldmine for actors and filmmakers as well, writes Patrick Goldstein.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City