Best Director, Best Actor and Special Jury Prize:
Guadalajara Film Festival.
Prix CCAS
Toulouse Latin American Film Festival.
Best Director, Best Actor and Special Jury Prize:
Guadalajara Film Festival.
Prix CCAS
Toulouse Latin American Film Festival.
Love can spring up in the most unlikely places, and the new film Woodpeckers (Carpinteros) tells one such tale of illicit and slow-boil attraction. Dreadlocked and handsome Dominican-Haitian Julián (actor Jean Jean in a breakout role) begins a jail sentence for petty theft inside the notorious Najayo prison just outside Santo Domingo. While navigating the indignities, corruption and everyday violence from both guards and fellow inmates, he becomes immersed in the system of "Woodpecking," the unique sign language the male prisoners use to communicate with women in the adjacent penitentiary just over 400 feet away.
Standing in windows or out in prison yards, love - and heated liaisons - blossom. Julián's entanglement with one female inmate, Yanelly (the astonishing Dominican actress Judith Rodriguez Perez), is the fuse that ignites the events of Woodpeckers, which was shot on location at the actual prison using real inmates for all but the lead roles. Director José María Cabral, whose previous work was the Dominican Republic's official submission for the Foreign Language Oscar, delivers a knockout film, full of atmosphere, sexuality, and grit.
Coming Soon...
| Date | Theatre | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coming Soon.. | |||
| Sep 15th | AMC Empire | New York | NY |
| Sep 15th | Concourse Plaza | Bronx | NY |
| Sep 15th | UA Kaufman 14 | Astoria | NY |
| Sep 15th | Marcus Addison Cinema | Addison | IL |
| Sep 15th | Marcus South Shore Cinema | South Shore | WI |
| Sep 17th & Sep 23rd | SF Latino Film Fest | San Francisco | CA |
| Sep 21st (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean Director José María Cabral) |
The Tower | Miami | FL |
| Sep 22nd | The Tower | Miami | FL |
| Sep 22nd | AMC Aventura | Miami | FL |
| Sep 22nd | Digital Gym Cinema | San Diego | CA |
| Sep 26th & Sep 27th (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean) |
Digital Gym Cinema | San Diego | CA |
| Sep 23rd (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean) |
Savor Cinema | Fort Lauderdale | FL |
| Sep 24th (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean) |
CineLatino | Denver | CO |
| Sep 25th (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean) |
Boulder Film Series | Boulder | CO |
| Sep 28th (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean) |
Indiana University Cinema | Bloomington | IN |
| Sep 29th & Sep 30th (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean) |
Austin Film Society | Austin | TX |
| Oct 2nd (Special Screening with Actor Jean Jean) |
Milwaukee FF | Milwaukee | WI |
| Oct 4th |
Milwaukee FF | Milwaukee | WI |
| Oct 4th (Closing night film with Actor Jean Jean) |
AFI Latin Film Festival | Silver Sptings | MD |
| Oct 27th | Gene Siskel Film Centre | Chicago | IL |
| Nov 2nd | Rehoboth Beach FF | Rehoboth Beach | DE |
North American Distributor
Born in Santo Domingo, July 24, 1988 Cabral is a Dominican film director, screenwriter, and producer. Cabral started making films when he was 16 years old, making private screenings of short films to family and friends in local movie theaters, one of them "Excexos" got national distribution in 2008. His first feature film, Jaque Mate (2011), was screened at a high number of film festivals and selected as the Dominican entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. "Arrobá" and "Despertar" followed in 2013 and 2014, also making it into the festival circuits.
In 2015 he released "Detective Willy" a comedy adventure film. Cabral is currently promoting his new feature drama "Carpinteros" shot in Najayo and La Victoria prison from the Dominican Republic.