Last Summer

Inspiration: A few years ago, in a film workshop, a professor said something that got me thinking: “The weather in the Dominican Republic is so great, that’s why Dominicans are always happy.” At the time, I laughed along with the rest of the class, but for some reason, that comment stuck with me. Can a country’s happiness really be reduced to the weather? To the sun and the beach? If so, why do so many Dominicans dream of leaving?

“How do we show our culture without falling into cultural expectations or stereotypes?” My stories seek to question the stereotypical view of the Caribbean by focusing on the characters’ stories and the underlying reasons behind their decisions.

Last Summer is a narrative short film set on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, where frequent power outages and economic hardship shape everyday life. Eva, a determined young woman desperately searching for money to care for her sick mother. As her situation becomes increasingly difficult, she begins to question what she is willing to leave behind in pursuit of a better future. The film explores community, female friendship, the burden of being the family provider, and the idealization of the American Dream within a working-class Dominican neighborhood.

The process of making this short film began last summer, and one thing I was very clear about was that I didn’t want to make it any more dramatic. What could be more dramatic than being Latin American? Because living in Latin America means witnessing, on a daily basis, how reality surpasses fiction. So the story unfolded with that idea in mind; I wanted it to show the day in the life of a Dominican woman, focusing on her community. The script went through many revisions and had six versions, with the help of my mentor Andrés Farias and my thesis advisor Tanya Valette. While I was here in NYC, my friend and producer, Luis Rodríguez, put everything together for the production. Without him, my family, and the entire crew that collaborated on this short film, it wouldn’t have been possible.

Costume Proposal and Final Fittings

Art Department Proposal

What’s Next?

We have almost finished post-production; we are in the color-correcting phase, and we have submitted to several film festivals and are just waiting for responses. This short film is part of the universe of my feature film in progress, titled New Year, in which we’ll follow Eva’s story as she tries to emigrate from the country.

The story has already participated in writing and production labs in DR. We are going to have the first draft by September

I’m Nikari Dominguez, a Dominican American director and photographer, and I make stories that explore daily life in the Dominican Republic, highlighting characters in a personal and intimate way, beyond Caribbean stereotypes.

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