10th edition CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

FILMS 2024:  Caribbean Focus | Feature Films | Short Films | Yellow Robin Award Nominees
FILMS 2019: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2018: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2017: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2016: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2015: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film

Jeffrey (2017 Feature Film)

Yanillys Perez | Dominican Republic, France | 2016 | doc | color | DCP | 78 min | Spanish | e.s.

Jeffrey depicts the dreams of a 12-year-old windshield washer both realistically and poetically. He’d love to be a famous reggaeton vocalist and send his sister to school. But for a Dominican boy, reality is harsh.
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For three years, filmmaker Yanillys Perez filmed 12-year old Jeffrey and his family. Jeffrey, whose name is actually Joselito, lives in a small home in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic’s capital with his mother, brothers and sister. He has washed windshields on the city’s busy streets since he was six to help keep the family alive. Jeffrey dreams of becoming a famous reggaeton vocalist and, thanks to a catchy tune he has penned with his brother, it seems as if that might actually become a reality.

In her first feature-length documentary, Perez mixes the harsh reality of Jeffrey’s life (and that of many other children) with subtle editorial interventions such as scenes in which Jeffrey seeks calm, comfort or an outlet in his favourite tree. Jeffrey won the Dropbox Discovery Filmmakers Award at Toronto International Film Festival for the unique collaboration between the director and the lead as well as the mingling of realistic and poetic elements.

Place: CINEMA 4

Date: 6 April 2017

Time: 17:00

Duration: 1:00

Place: CINEMA 4

Date: 7 April 2017

Time: 14:15

Duration: 0:57

Place: CINEMA 4

Date: 8 April 2017

Time: 13:30

Duration: 1:03

Year in
Festival

2017

Director

Yanillys Perez

Camera

Jan Everetz
Francis Adames
Gibran Abrales
Oliver Mota
Yanillys Perez

Country

Dominican Republic
France

Editor

Mathilde Van de Moortel

Language

Spanish

Length

78 min

Music

‘Jeffrey’ Joselito de la Cruz
Jeyson de la Cruz

Producer

Thibaud Billiard
Yanillys Perez

Production Company

YPR Films

Sales

LOCO FILMS

Scenario

Yanillys Perez

Sound Design

Olivier Goinard
Irving Deschamps
Juliette Heintz
Bobadilla Baez

Year of Production

2016

Website

www.yprfilms.com/films

Yanillys PEREZ was born in the Dominican Republic. She is a scriptwriter, director, producer and actress. In 2010 she founded the production company YPR Films with Thibaud Billiard. Her short film Techos rotos/Broken Ceilings (2014) was the first Dominican film to be selected for the Clermont-Ferrand film festival. The award-winning Jeffrey (2016) is her first long-form documentary.

 

Filmography

(selection) Del otro lado (2011, short), Techos rotos/Broken Ceilings (2014, short), Jeffrey (2016, doc)