‘Pérez Rodríguez’ arrives at the Festival de Málaga in the Focus Guest Country section
The screening of Humberto Tavárez's feature film was attended by its director and the actress Stephany Liriano
On Wednesday 19 March, the Festival de Málaga hosted the screening of ‘Pérez Rodríguez’, the debut film by Dominican director Humberto Tavárez, as part of the Focus Guest Country section, which this year goes to the Dominican Republic.
The film offers a satirical portrayal of the Dominican family through three celebrations, exploring with humour and irony the complexity of family ties, their contradictions and the weight of tradition. Through a story full of absurd situations, ‘Pérez Rodríguez’ highlights the peculiarities of Dominican society.
After the screening, the audience had the opportunity to attend a colloquium moderated by Mar García, with the participation of Humberto Tavárez himself, the actress Stephany Liriano and Angeline Monegro, representative from Tourism Promotion Abroad for the Dominican Republic.
Monegro thanked the Festival de Málaga “for allowing us to be a Focus country in this edition and all the audience for coming with us on this journey and supporting Dominican cinema”. In turn, Humberto Tavárez explained that the film “was born out of a need to show what the upper middle class in the Dominican Republic is like. A group of characters who live in a bubble of overprotection – what I call toxic love – so much love that it ends up impeding adulthood. The film was born out of this need to show how a parent can end up being terrified of their child becoming an adult.”
For her part, Stephany Liriano has said that she has quite a large family and the film features many aspects that are reminiscent of her own family: “Humberto is an only child, and it was my family who inspired him”.
Távarez and Liriano, a couple since 2011, explained how they have combined their romantic and working relationship: “We work together on many things, and we are used to it. I like to have someone in the house with who I can reflect and throw out ideas,” added the director.
Liriano commented that the director made people feel very comfortable: “As an actor you want to do really well and that same adrenaline sometimes makes you overact. Humberto made us take a breath and focus on the scene.”
In 2020, Tavárez debuted as a director with the short film ‘El Behind’, and in 2024, in addition to releasing his first feature film, he shot his second project, ‘Kiki & Kiki’. With this session, the Festival de Málaga continues to consolidate its commitment to Latin American cinema.
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