5th edition
of the audiovisual contest
in the area of environment and
sustainable development

News

Suzan Beraza and David Byars Share Their Secrets for Creating Impact Documentaries

Santo Domingo, May 15, 2015

Seeking to encourage young Dominican filmmakers, the Globo Verde Dominicano Award and the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF) presented yesterday in Santo Domingo, at Funglode’s headquarters, the workshop "Creating and developing concepts for short film documentaries". During a lively class led by documentary filmmakers Suzan Beraza and David Byars, 60+ participants had the opportunity to learn basic techniques for developing a documentary film and some "secrets" to creating works of impact.

For example: how and where to find ideas; interviewing techniques and how to deal with characters and filming techniques, in addition to the basic structure of a documentary.

Suzan Beraza, founder of the Reel Thing company, in addition to having presented some of her documentaries, such as Bag-it and Uranium Drive-in, in previous editions of the DREFF, she is also part of the International Advisory Committee and has been a judge of the Globe Verde Dominicano Award.

For his part, David Byars, apart from being a director of independent documentaries, has also been a cameraman, editor and sound engineer of the documentary film Uranium Drive-in. Currently, both of them are filming in the city of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, the documentary film No soy puta (I Am Not a Whore!), which addresses sex tourism from the point of view of women.

The GFDD Multimedia Manager, Alexandra Tabar, encouraged young people to practice what they have learned in developing their projects, so that they can submit them to the fourth edition of the competition, which will announce the winners during the fifth edition of the DREFF, scheduled to take place between September 8 and 13, 2015.

As part of the workshop, the Globo Verde Dominicano Award also gave 10 participants the opportunity to receive one-on-one guidance from Beraza and Byars, who served as mentors to the winners in their respective projects.

The Globo Verde Dominicano Award seeks to encourage young Dominicans to make films and documentaries capable of raising awareness on the importance and preservation of the environment and sustainable development.

Related links:
www.globoverdedominicano.org
www.dreff.org