12 de Noviembre de 2008
New Dominican York in the Huelva International Film Festival (Festival de Cine Iberoamericano de Huelva), Spain. The screening will be at Aqualon theater, sala 1, November 18th, 4:30pm.

12 de Noviembre de 2008
Screening in Madrid: Friday November 14th, 7:00pm, in the Centro Madrileño de Imágenes, Centro Cultural Conde Duque (c/ Conde Duque 9, segunda planta).

September 30, 2008
New Dominican York will premiere this October in Spain, at the Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci).

In New York City Rafael is a poet outside the law, a different type of Dominican York: He runs an illegal numbers racket in uptown Manhattan, writes poetry, and prays each night to his particular gods: Charlie Parker and El Quijote.

In the Dominican Republic, Antonio has lost all hope. He decides to leave his country behind, risking his life and defying sharks in pursuit of entering the United States illegally and setting foot in the Big Apple.

From both ends of the American Dream each will try to survive the disconsolation of being a New Dominican York. As the Poet puts it: "This is New York. This is the New York of Dominicans. Here you either learn or explode".

The documentary New Dominican York is born out of a personal experience that its director, Daniel "Solaris" Melguizo lived in New York City in the neighborhood Washington Heights. The district, situated in upper Manhattan, shelters the majority of New York City's Dominican community.

It was in this neighborhood that Daniel Melguizo met Rafael Hilario Medina,"The Poet", the core of the New Dominican York story. He was also who introduced the director into the Dominican community and so, Daniel Melguizo gained access to the lives of many illegal immigrants who made a living through the dangerous business of drugs and illegal betting. The reality of living in New York City is hard for the illegal Dominican immigrant. Regardless of his profession in the country of his origin, a Dominican without legal documents must accept the first job that comes his way in order to survive. But most of the jobs he can aspire to without proper documentation don't offer enough revenue to afford what most Dominicans consider an honorable lifestyle. This is why an alarming amount of immigrants end up mixed up in criminal activities which in most cases end in arrests, incarceration and finally deportation.

The reality of the illegal immigrant in New York is a tough one. The first odyssey is to survive the perilous journey by sea aboard a miserable and unsafe wooden boat to cross the Mona Canal, which is infested with sharks and hurricane storms that separate the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico. Once in Puerto Rico they´ll take a domestic flight once they make a little money and get a false ID. The second odyssey is the actual life as an illegal alien in America. Regardless of their profession in the country of origin, a Dominican without legal documents must accept the first job that comes his way in order to survive. Most of the jobs you can aspire to without proper documentation don´t offer enough revenue to afford what most Dominicans consider an honorable lifestyle. This is why an alarming amount of immigrants end up mixed in criminal activities which in most cases produce arrests, incarceration and finally deportation.

Aside from the constant danger of being found by the police, the illegal alien must deal with his own solitude, nostalgia and uncertainty regarding the return to his country. The fear of rejection from those left back home if you go back without a fortune, and their lack of integration into American culture produces an abnormal state in which the immigrant loses his feeling of belonging. He is no longer part of either his own country nor the foreign country he lives in...

Those who get to rebuild their lives in New York remain in this neighborhood for the rest of their lives in a sort of ghetto in which only Spanish is spoken and everything and everyone is Dominican. They learn to accept their luck but never let go of the longing to return to their homeland, where they know very well it would be impossible to reintegrate. However, it is clear that the Poet hasn't resigned himself to this situation. He doesn't play by the rules and, suffering from terrible despair, considers going back to his country having not amassed any fortune. In an email written to the film's director he expresses his pain in this manner:

In regards to my decision of abandoning the city for good, it is a reality. One of the main reasons is because this city is so ungrateful. Through the mirror of its existence I have been in touch with its face of a whore, of an old and rotten pimp, a piece of junk that plows into memory. What happened is the wheel in my clock has stopped turning and I have found myself planted in this city. This reality has hurt me so. It is my mission, I believe, to continue my course and drink from the dust of all roads. There's nothing more, it is the other side of life. I have said it once and will repeat it again with teardrops in my eye the day I shall leave: New York, I love you. New York, I hate you.

Daniel “Solaris” Melguizo, born in Madrid, has spent 13 of his 33 years within the worlds of television and film. He studied photography, filmmaking, and film editing at Metropolis C.E. and TAI. In 1996 he produced his first 16mm short, You, Your Beer and the Great You Are. After employment at FullTime TV, Globomedia and Vía Digital, among others, and teaching courses in video and film at Metropolis C.E., he founded the production company Solaris Film in 2000, where he worked as editor (Japón, 2002), filmmaker and producer. Currently he is living in New York and working on the documentary project New Dominican York, while also freelancing as filmmaker and editor.