News

The GMAI Awards Two Students with Scholarships to Study Film and TV in Cuba
Santo Domingo, June 9, 2010

Roddy Pérez Valerio and Juan José Cid Fernández were chosen for to receive the scholarships, which are part of the training programming developed by the Global Media Arts Institute (GMAI) of FUNGLODE and the International Film and TV School (EICTV) of Cuba.

The Global Media Arts Institute (GMAI), part of the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), announced the selection of Roddy Pérez Valerio and Juan José Cid Fernández as the beneficiaries of an opportunity to study at the International Film and TV School (EICTV) of Cuba.

Roddy Pérez Valerio will specialize in script writing and Juan José Cid Fernández will study editing and staging. Both will receive their degrees from the film school where they will study as of this year, 2010 until 2013.
Martha Checo, EICTV representative in the Dominican Republic, and Omar de la Cruz, Director of Audiovisuals at FUNGLODE and its sister organization in the United States, the Global Foundation Development and Democracy (GFDD), explained that they had sent the pre-selection results to the School’s Film Selection Committee which made the final decision.

Students who competed for the GMAI scholarships, in collaboration with EICTV, responded to a call for entries among Dominican students between the ages of 22 and 29 who took part in the admissions evaluation process for the Regular Course of Film and Television.

A National Evaluation Committee made up of Dominican filmmakers and film critics carried out the evaluation and pre-selection process at the end of April, taking into account the candidates artistic ability and creative potential. They also took into account the candidates’ conceptual training and work experience.

Recipients of the scholarship fulfill a three-year, intensive and complex course of studies which is divided into three cycles: Polyvalence, which involves learning the basics the first year; Specialty - Directing Fiction and Directing Documentaries, Sound, Staging/Editing, Director of Photography, Script and Production in the second year. The third year is dedicated to their theses.

Throughout the three years, students can take part in short extracurricular courses in Video Digital.

The granting of these scholarships is part of an agreement between the EICTV and FUNGLODE/GFDD signed in December 2006, which establishes cooperation links between both institutions in the area of training and education.

As a result of the agreement, the GMAI has offered classes and workshops on film and television production, in association with the EICTV, since February 2006. In that period, ten students have received support allowing them to take part in these programs.

The EICTV is the creation of the New Latin American Film Foundation, headquartered in Havana, Cuba. The school, inaugurated in December 1986 by the Committee of Latin American Filmmakers, has been under the direction of Colombian writer and Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez since its creation. In 2007, Dominican filmmaker Tanya Valette, who was among the first graduating class, is the General Director of the school.

The EICTV has the distinction of being the only school in the world to have received the important Roberto Rossellini Award at the Cannes Film Festival, through which it was recognized for its outstanding contribution in the areas of progress, generosity and humanity.

The GMAI is dedicated to providing promising professionals in the TV and film industry with the comprehensive training in the latest film and audiovisual tendencies as part of its general mission to promote the multimedia industry in the Dominican Republic.

The Institute seeks to play a key role in the development of a highly qualified film industry which contributes significantly to the economic development, competitiveness and modernization of the Dominican nation.