Spanglish Movies: Boom in Dominican and Puerto Rican cinema have a natural destiny in the US Hispanic

The fact that the US Hispanic market is culturally connected with its countries of origin, and that Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic offer attractive incentives for production, talent, crew, and locations, has created a fertile ground for promoting the production of Hispanic cinema in those latitudes.

According to Gustavo R. Aparicio, managing director of Spanglish Movies, these tax incentives in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico allow them to reduce costs, have access to beautiful locations, the necessary technology, and work teams with the experience required to carry out an audiovisual production of premium quality.

“The Dominican Republic has two provisions, 34 and 39, which cover almost 100% and 25% of production costs, respectively; while Puerto Rico covers 40% of local production costs, 20% for non-resident talent, and 15% if a local production company has equity in the project. Both islands have developed a world-class local industry. Since Pirates of the Caribbean, the major studios are continuously filming in these jurisdictions, which keeps the crew working year-round on high-quality projects,” Aparicio pointed out.

He highlighted that the incentives plus the industry’s growth have allowed some 30 to 40 films to be produced throughout the region today.

He said that the idiosyncrasy, particularly of the Dominican, calls for the production of many comedies, such as No Es Lo Que Parece and La Trampa; the affinity with urban musical genres such as reggaeton and trap, favor films such as Flow Calle and the biopic about Ozuna.

“But there is room for all genders. Proof of this is the Puerto Rican productions Receta No Incluida and the thriller El Perfecto Anfitrión, produced in 2020 for Pantaya,” he adds. Other titles he mentioned are the Puerto Rican El Karaoke, the historical drama Plantados; musicals such as La Calle De La Resistencia, the Dominican sitcom Líos De Familia and the Puerto Rican dramatized documentary Los Lunes A Las 9.