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[0:13] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to the round table, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World or over here on the Broadway Podcast Network. And you know, there are some of the most iconic film festivals that all the cool kids get to go to. I don't get to go to any of them, Jose. Why am I not at South by Southwest? Why not? I don't think I'm cool enough to hang there, Jose.

[0:33] Jose Maria Cabral: Come on, of course you are. You have the I just met you 10 seconds ago, and you're giving me a great energy.

[0:39] Robert Bannon: You know, okay, fine. I'll get my hair done and I'll show up as your guest, and I'll be the bell of the ball. I'm so excited to let's go. I I'm excited. 42nd Street. What do you is that how you call the movie? What had what is that the movie's name?

[0:54] Jose Maria Cabral: In English, yes, it's 42nd Street. And here in Spanish will be La Cuartaidos.

[1:00] Robert Bannon: See, that's what I was assuming it was gonna be, and you didn't want to hear me. I failed Spanish. I switched to another language because so I but 42nd Street, or what he said, coming to South by Southwest. You are one of the premier Dominican filmmakers, and um I think a lot of us in America think of DR as the resorts we go to. And I I've been to Punta Cana, I had a good time. You could but you you take this gritty approach and you're showing us a part of the the country that we ne I've never heard of before. What's the film about?

[1:36] Jose Maria Cabral: Well, 42nd Street follows the lives of uh characters that live in the most emblematic street in the Dominican Republic, and one of the most emblematic streets in the whole Caribbean. It's a street that was known uh unfortunately for violence, for a crime, for uh narcos traffic and all of that. But a group of people, a talented people started shifting that narrative, and how creating art and creating community and throwing parties, man, because what's better than a great party?

[2:15] Robert Bannon: So they were just throwing parties.

[2:18] Jose Maria Cabral: Yeah, I mean, they were throwing parties, they were dancing, they were creating music, and it was just amazing, and people just wanted to be there. And people started coming from all over the world to be a part of this artistic community right there in the middle of the art. Yes, it's only 600, it's only 600 meters long, it's only 1800 feet in a as we don't hear. So you're talking about a block pretty much long that or so that has a little bit longer that has all of this great activity.

[2:49] Robert Bannon: So, what kind of art is there?

[2:59] Jose Maria Cabral: Did he freeze? Did I freeze? I was like, oh no, I hope I didn't freeze. No, okay. Oh, we're back. I'm gonna answer the question.

[3:06] Robert Bannon: Yes, please.

[3:09] Jose Maria Cabral: Uh it's yes, it's a block. It's it's it's a it's not a one straight block. It would be something like this. It's it's everything is going to challenge you there. So it's a block, but it's full of music, it's full of talented people, and and it's a lot of things are happening. I always think about 42nd Street and Times Square, right?

[3:33] Robert Bannon: Right, the city that never sleeps, the block that everybody's there, and there's a lot of stuff, and there's uh more marketing and merchandise than art, but yeah, a combination.

[3:45] Jose Maria Cabral: Well, we have our own 42nd Street, and it's and it's full of intensity, and it's full of of people who are visiting from all over the place, just like in Times Square, but we have our own in steroids, and and it's just amazing to be there, and it's just a crazy experience. And and yes, of course, people will say, and people who know it, oh José Maria is painting it like something that is not dangerous. Well, yes, unfortunately, and now we're getting more into the serious part. It is it can be dangerous, things happen there, and it could be a very hostile environment, uh, which is unfortunate.

[4:27] But this we we portray it in the film uh very seriously, and we and we and we talk about police brutality and we talk about all the things that are happening and the abuses, but we also celebrate the people who are creating uh and changing this place into something that was known for violence into a hub of creativity, and they're doing it with their own art, they're not relying on things that are coming from from the outside. Even if people from the outside come, it's okay, they say. They say, but they have to create art here. They have to be part of here, like the same movie. Of course, I was not from 42nd Street, but I took enough time, more than a year, just researching, just being there. I packed my bags, I went to live with in the metal's place, and all of that creating with them this movie, and that's something they do every day. I did it just for a couple of years, but they are the heroes, they are the people who we follow, and they are the people who I admire.

[5:39] And you know what? I mean, I I've been to a lot of places uh that my career as a filmmaker, and this is the one probably that I get most inspired because it's very close to home. It's people who are also uh believe in the craft in the community in in creating with each other. You can feel it in how many shots in the movie are individual shots, of course they are, but probably most of them it's just a group shot. It's because there's a lot of people, and there's a lot of sense of working together.

[6:23] Robert Bannon: Now I'm on mute. See, now I'm stuck. So when you when you came up with this idea, what was it like for you to go there? And how did you integrate with the people and let them trust you? They didn't know you, you're making a movie.

[6:39] Jose Maria Cabral: Look, I I learned this um when I was doing Woodpeckers. Woodpeckers is a film uh I did in 2017, and it's a film about the prison in the Dominican Republic, and I shot it inside the prison with the prisoners as actors, and what I learned there was that first the idea of of shooting or making a movie in a place that you that you know not really live like in prison, doesn't mean you can't do it, but it does mean that you can't go there with the idea of the movie. You can have an idea of making a movie there, but you need the place to tell you and the people who live there what the movie's gonna be about.

[7:27] So once you do that, like what when you start that and you start showing who you are and asking questions and paying attention, and when they feel that there's someone really respecting their point of view and taking it in consideration and taking the most important thing, time taking time. So uh that's I was doing unconsciously, but that's when I learned of course this things take time because I'm not living here every day. So if you pay attention and if you give your time, that's gonna be a great starting point.

[8:25] Another thing is taking in consideration everything, well, not everything, of course, it's your movie and and you have a point of view, but taking in consideration that it's not a monologue, it's not what I'm I want to say about this place, it's what are we gonna say about this place together, even though I'm guiding the ship. So once I have the script ready, I sit down with the community, I read the script. They can uh add something, they they can question something, we work together. I can even defend myself and say, Well, I I think uh we should go here because what I think from my perspective, and we have this conversation. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I convince them and I'm right. So once you are basically open to that, and you go there and and you actually open in every way, not only in the intellectual way, open in a human way, open in a way that you're not there only for the movie. You can be there as a friend, you can be there as there's an important event someone has.

[9:40] Robert Bannon: Maybe you should be there that night, even though you're not filming that event. So it's about being open, actually. You really let into the community and been a part of their community, and I'm sure you build personal relationships with people that you now have kept in touch and have been excited about the film being premiered, and you've really made an inroad with these people who are not always heard about, not always acknowledged, and now they're gonna be able to be seen across the world. How is it? Have they seen it yet? Have you given them a sneak peek of the film?

[10:12] Jose Maria Cabral: They've seen stuff, yes, they've seen stuff. They saw stuff in post-production, they saw I was there about a month ago when I told them about South by Southwest. We thought we saw more scenes of the movie. We're doing a premiere there, and I'm really excited. That's gonna be one of the best premieres. So, yes.

[10:36] Robert Bannon: Amazing. So, people don't know the film festival circuit, is a lot of work. You submit to many film festivals, it costs money, it's a lot of footwork, it's a lot of typing, it's a lot of uploading, it's a lot of waiting. When you've been around that you've done other things, I mean, you were at Sundance, you've had films premiere in Miami, you've helped films premiere around the world, really. What's the moment like when you get the email, you get the phone call that a film that you've worked years on, so close to your heart, your homeland, the part that the story you came up with is gonna be at South by Southwest film festival?

[11:14] Jose Maria Cabral: It's always great. It's always great. It's one of the best news because great festivals prepare you or launch you to a great festivity around the world, and we want to make films for an audience, even if it's a big audience or a small audience, it's fine. But we want to find an audience. That's I think that's the most important thing we have to do with the film, even if it's good or bad for reviews, for good or bad. Of course, we want it all, we want all the awards, we want, but the best thing we can have as a filmmaker is find an audience and festivals help us find the audience for the film.

[12:02] Robert Bannon: So, how do we support a film like this if we can't go to South by Southwest, but we want to support the film, we want to support your career? How do we help filmmakers like you get this movie in a wider release or be supportive of the film and the message you're trying to tell?

[12:17] Jose Maria Cabral: Well, this is a great way. You having us in your platform, checking out our Instagram, if the movie's going close to your city, come check if it's streaming, if it's not streaming. I mean, and I don't know, send an email to every platform. Tell them, hey, have you seen this film? Buy it. You should buy this film. It's a documentary, so we gotta it's hard. It's hard for documentaries to sell. It's gonna be hard. But we're starting in a good with a good fee. Let's see what happens.

[13:01] Robert Bannon: What I know about the DR, the Dominican people is that they go hard. They're gonna work hard, they're gonna party hard, they're gonna sell hard, they're gonna show up hard, and South by Southwest, they're gonna show up, and then wherever this film is, it's gonna show up. You have other films that people can see though. I know you have a film on HBO Max, I know that you have other work that's out and about. Tell us a little bit about the other projects you've worked on and can we check some of those out?

[13:24] Jose Maria Cabral: Yes, Otecopelia is in Max, HBO Max. I think the rest are in Prime, which would be The Projectionist. I don't know where Carpinteros is, the one in Sundance. It was somewhere. I think it's not there anymore because the license ended. And yeah, they're out. I don't really know where they are, but they are there.

[13:56] Robert Bannon: Well, you can go to your Instagram page, you can go to IMDB, you can Google you and all this information definitely comes up and out. Can you tell us a little bit about the team that you worked with on 42nd Street? Who else has been a part of this film with you? You don't do it on your own. Were you out there with the camera? How many people are a part of this project on the street and then on the post-production side?

[14:17] Jose Maria Cabral: Yeah, well, on shooting, we were about 30 to 35 people from the filmmaking industry, and then probably about 10 to 15 from the community. Specific names, really important to know is Miguel Yarul, who was co-writer, Hernán Herrera, who was a director of photography, who I've worked with my whole career since 2011. I edited the movie, but Nacho Ruiz, who's my editor, kind of helped me a lot on just supervising, and Nayareda did color too. Carlo Germán, David Ferreira, the great crew, Alba, Eumir, Baneris, the whole set time music team, creating music. It was great. It takes a village to make a film about this. We were a great team.

[15:47] Robert Bannon: So when all is said and done, when we see this film, when the people of DR see this film, when the people of 42nd Street see this film, when the festival goers see this film, what is the goal? What do you want us to leave this film feeling like? What is the lesson we can learn?

[15:59] Jose Maria Cabral: And Medio Medio Piki who did the music, he was awesome. What do you want? I mean, I don't like to say there is just this quote like if you want to send a message, send it through Western Union. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have a method, it means that I don't wanna tell people what to think and feel. But if you can feel inspired, which is not what to think, but if you can feel inspired, then that'll be great if you feel inspired through from this community that even in with so many obstacles, so many struggles, in a very harsh environment, and they still are making a name for themselves, they're changing the narrative, and they're creating community. That would be a great take for I think it should inspire all of us, no matter what struggles we're going through, no matter how hard we think it is, artists can make amazing things happen, and everybody can make amazing things happen if they just go out there and put their best foot forward and find people to build great amazing things with, like you've done and your career has done.

And now you started with one film, and now off to South by Southwest, you go. We'll be following, we'll be sharing. We can't wait to see this film, we can't wait to check out all the work that you do.

[17:32] Robert Bannon: And when I go to DR, I gotta people need to go to more than Punta Cana. That's what you're saying.

[17:38] Jose Maria Cabral: Yeah, I mean, Punta Cana is great. There's a lot of stuff to do, and it's great beaches, but you can go to the north, you can go to Cabarete, Osua, you can go to Terrenas, which is amazing. You have to go to Terrenas, Samana, Samana is wow. And if you go to a place that is there's a lot, there's not a lot of tourist place. There is a lot, but it doesn't have the marketing. You're gonna be fine, you're gonna find great places, but it doesn't have the marketing. It's Bahia de las Águilas, Barahona, Pedernales. Come back to this interview, pinpoint, and remember these names and come visit the DR.

[18:17] Robert Bannon: Jose, do you cook the mountains?

[18:19] Jose Maria Cabral: The mountains, Jarabacoa, Constanza. Yeah. There's so much to see. It's a beautiful, it's a beautiful country.

[18:25] Robert Bannon: Do you cook, Jose?

[18:26] Jose Maria Cabral: If I cook, you cook, yeah. No, I mean I do, but it's terrible.

[18:32] Robert Bannon: Oh, see, I was gonna say, if you cook, then I'm gonna come visit your house to eat some food because that's why I'm coming to DR to eat.

[18:39] Jose Maria Cabral: I can take you somewhere, and we're gonna eat great. If I am in charge of food, oh my god, you're gonna leave the next day.

[18:48] Robert Bannon: Okay, that's it. I'm ready. It was such an honor to talk to you. I'm really excited for people to check it out. Congratulations, enjoy the festival, and all the best is yet to come. Thanks so much for being here.