DÓLARES DE ARENA
GERALDINE CHAPLIN
UNA PELÍCULA DE
LAURA AMELIA GUZMÁN ISRAEL CÁRDENAS
WITH THE SUPPORT OF:PRODUCED BY:
aurora dominicana
The film is a very free adaptation of the novel
Les Dollars Des Sables, using elements that
contribute to create an atmosphere, Anne
and Noeli’s intimate world: a impossible
relationship, concern for one another and
loneliness.
A migrant in the opposite direction, from
France to the Dominican Republic, looking
for pleasure, relaxation and to forget, instead
of looking for work. And Noelí, a girl who
has unconsciously been prostituting herself
for a long time, who dreams of leaving the
island and going somewhere in Europe to
have a better future. From such a contradic-
tory remedy as having to pay for company,
pay to have everyone around well, the wish
to belong, to be helpful and useful, and the
impotence of not knowing how and to always
feel like a tourist.
Sand Dollars stems from our wish to
portrait a world full of contradictions,
contradictions that go from parties
and vacations, to love, betrayal, pleasure,
morality and loneliness. This is the world that
emerges from the book Sand Dollars written
by the French author, Jean-Noël Pancrazi;
that world is, in a certain way, Samaná:
the town where we previously filmed Jean
Gentil, a place where Dominicans from the
countryside coexist with other Dominicans
from the capital, with Haitians, and also with
a group of French, Germans and Italians that
have lived there for years, some of them
even considered as founders of this new life
in this place.
DIREC-TOR’S NOTE
Noelí, a young Dominican girl, goes
every afternoon to the beaches at Las
Terrenas. Together with her boy-
friend, she looks for a way to make a living
at the expense of one of the hundreds of
tourists that wander around there.
As people parade through her days, Noelí has
a steady client: a mature French woman, who
as time goes by, has found in the island the
ideal refuge to spend her last years.
Noelí’s boyfriend feigns to be her brother and
outlines a plan in which Noelí travels to Paris
with the old lady and sends him money every
month.
For Noelí, the relationship with the old lady is
based on convenience, but feelings become
more intense as the departure date closes in.
SYNOPSIS
BIO
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Re-
public on May 7th 1980, Laura Amelia
Guzmán graduated from Altos de
Chavón / The School of Design, where she
studied fine arts and photography. After ex-
hibiting in photography shows, she attended
the International Film and Television School
in Cuba, specializing in cinematography.
After working in several features, she moves
to Mexico. Since 2004, she has lived between
Mexico and the Dominican Republic working
with her husband Israel Cárdenas, with whom
she shares script, photography, production
and direction credits in their feature films.
Together they run the production company
Aurora Dominicana.
Israel Cárdenas (Mexico, 1980) is a self-
taught filmmaker who started out his career
in musical videoclip productions and some
film workshops at NYFA and EICTV. He
worked as camera assistant and second unit
camera in some projects before shooting in
2006 his first feature as co-director, script-
writer, photographer, producer and editor.
Sand Dollars is his fourth feature.
Besides his work as Director, he has collab-
orated in various features as co-scriptwriter
(Los Últimos Cristeros, directed by Matías
Meyer, Mexico 2012), director of photography
(Cumbres, directed by Gabriel Nuncio) and
producer (Ocaso, directed by Theo Court,
Cumbres, Mañana Psicotrópica directed by
Alexandro Aldrete). In 2013 he establishes
Rayo Verde Post, image post-production
studio in the Dominican Republic.
In 2006 Laura and Israel shot COCHOCHI
where they shared scriptwriting and di-
recting credits. Cochochi’s premiere was in
the “Orizzonti” section at La Mostra di Arte
Cinematografica di Venezia 2007; from there
the film was shown in many film festivals and
awarded several times.
LAURA AMELIA GUZMÁNISRAEL CÁRDENAS Directors / Producers
COCHOCHI (2007)
Awards and recognitions:
Discovery award, Toronto Intl. Film Festival
Jury award, Toulouse Film Festival
Jury award, Valdivia Film Festival
Best Feature, Gramado Film Festival
Best Feature, Miami Intl. Film Festival
Fipresci awards at Gijón and Toulouse
Nominated for the Ariel for Best First Feature
and Best Script
www.cochochi.com.mx
JEAN GENTIL (2010)
Awards and recognitions:
Jury’s Special Mention, Venice FF (Orizzonti)
Bronze Alexander, Thessaloniki Intl. FF
Best Script Award, Miami Intl. FF
Jury’s special Prize, Guadalajara FF
Best Film Award, Palmas Gran Canaria FF
Grand Prize, Jeonju Intl FF
Special Mention, Bafici
Best Feature, Cosquín FF
Best Film & Best Actor, Festivalissimo
Jury Award & Critics Award, Lima FF
Critics Award, Gramado FF
Best Director, Critic’s Award, Best Actor, Viña
del Mar Intl FF
Best Feature, Trinidad y Tobago Intl FF
Best Feature, Casandra Award, Dominican
Republic.
CARMITA (2013)
Festivals
Intl. Competition Ficunam
Trinidad y Tobago Film Festival
RDoc Documentary Film Festival
of the Dominican Republic
Cali International Film Festival
Buenos Aires Documentary Film Festival
Cinemigrante
Fine Arts Film Festival
www.jeangentil.com
It’s been pure joy to learn, and a wonderful experience”
Geraldine Chaplin
GERALDINE CHAPLIN (US,1944) Started
in David Lean’s adaptation of the epic love
story, Doctor Zhivago. Chaplin has enjoyed a
long and successful career in North America
with movies such as A Wedding, Welcome
to L.A., The Age of Innocence, Jane Eyre
and Robert Altman’s Nashville for which she
received a Golden Globe nomination. She
also played the role of her own grandmother
in Richard Attenborough’s biopic of her late
father, Chaplin, which starred Robert Downey
Jr. in the title role.
While she has made a name for herself in
North America, Chaplin continues to have
the most success overseas in Spanish and
French cinema. Fluent in both languages,
she has been a part of Spanish cinema for
decades with roles in Pedro Almodovar’s
Talk To Her and Jacques Rivette’s Love on
CAST
YANET MOJICA (Dominican Republic, 1993)
She lives in the town of Las Terrenas where
she’s a dance instructor of salsa and denbow.
After an unexpected casting accompanied
by Geraldine Chaplin, she becomes a strong
candidate to be the second lead of Dólares
de Arena. After several months of rehearsals
and work before the camera, she wins the
roll doing a great job in her first feature film
experience.
RICARDO ARIEL TORIBIO (Dominican
Republic, 1993). A professional musician and
self-taught artist, Ricardo has natural acting
skills. After doing some musical video clips,
his first feature film experience is in Dólares
de Arena.
the Ground. She was also a close collabo-
rator of Carlos Saura with whom she had a
12-year relationship.
She won a Goya Award for Best Supporting
Actress for her role in the Argentine-Spanish
thriller, In the City Without Limits and received
a Goya nomination for Jose Antonio Bayona’s
The Orphanage. She reunited with Bayona
for the disaster film The Impossible starring
Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.
Chaplin’s impressive contributions to Spanish
cinema earned her a Gold medal from the
Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinema-
tograficas de España.
TECHNICAL INFO
Title: Dólares de Arena / Sand Dollars
Genre: Drama
Shooting format : 5K Anamorfic / Color
Screening format: DCP
Length: 85‘
Locations: Samaná, Dominican Republic
Languages: Spanish, English, French
Production company : Aurora Dominicana
Co - producers : Canana Films, (Mexico), Rei Cine (Argentina)
FOPROCINE-Instituto Mexicano De Cinematografía (IMCINE)
Consejo Nacional Para La Cultura Y Las Artes (CONACULTA)
Production countries : Dominican Republic / Mexico / Argentina
With the support of : FONPROCINE-Dirección General de Cine, Rep. Dominicana
Programa Ibermedia
Instituto Nacional De Cine Y Artes Visuales (INCAA)
Banco BHD
Hubert Bals Fund
Written & Directed: Laura Amelia Guzmán & Israel Cárdenas
Based on the novel “Les Dollars des Sables”
by Jean-Noël Pancrazi, Gallimard Editions.
Production: Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas, Benjamín Domenech,
Santiago Gallelli, Matías Roveda, Pablo Cruz
Executive Production: Linel Hernández, Gabriel Tineo, Eddy Guzmán,
Sylvia Conde & José Luis Cárdenas
Associate producers: Monica de Moya, Julián Levin, Desirée Reyes
Photography: Israel Cárdenas
Jaime Guerra
Editing: Andrea Kleinman S.A.E / E.D.A
Script collaboration: Alejandro Andújar
Production design: Sylvia Conde
Wardrobe: Laura Guerrero
Sound design: Alejandro De Icaza
Diego Gat
Sound mixer: Raúl Locatelli
Music: Ramón Cordero, Edilio Paredes
Music Supervisor: IASO Records
Benjamin De Menil
Post Production: Rayo Verde Post
Israel Cárdenas
Jaime Guerra
Juanjo Cid
Carlo Reyes
Contact: [email protected]
Sales agent: Figa Films