1. How would you describe Lantica Studios today and the vision guiding its development as the country's flagship film production complex?
Lantica Studios is a film and television studio facility and a production services company. The studio opened in 2014 and it features three sound stages, as well as an infinity horizon water tank.
From the outset, the idea behind the development and construction of Lantica Studios was to become the leading film production hub in Latin America. Our ambition has always been that whenever a production, particularly from North America, wants to film in Latin America, it considers coming to our studios.
Over the past 10 to 12 years, we have fundamentally transformed the local industry. Previously, the Dominican Republic produced perhaps two small films a year, with very small budgets. Today, the country produces approximately 30 local films annually, alongside around 15 major international productions. At Lantica, we handle 10 to 12 of these larger productions, with budgets ranging from US$5 million to US$100 million.
2. You are widely recognised as a leading provider of film production studio services in the Caribbean and Latin America. Over the years, you have worked with some of the world's largest entertainment companies, including Netflix, Amazon, NBCUniversal, Paramount, HBO and Lionsgate. What does this international client portfolio represent for the studio?
We work with all the major studios and platforms, including Netflix, Amazon, Universal, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros and Disney.
Our activities represent approximately US$250 million in annual production expenditure, and we create around 2,000 jobs each year. This gives you an idea of the scale of our operations and the economic impact we generate through the productions hosted at our facilities.
3. Lantica Studios originally opened as Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios in 2014. Following Pinewood's departure in 2024, the complex has continued its development as a fully Dominican-owned, world-class facility. What did this transition mean for the company, and what defines this new chapter?
Establishing the studio in partnership with Pinewood was an important step in entering the international market with the support of a globally recognized brand. We greatly valued that partnership and our relationship with Pinewood Group, which played a meaningful role in our early development.
Over the years, however, our work and the continued growth of the local film industry have helped establish the Dominican Republic as an attractive and reliable destination for international productions. That was always one of our most important objectives. Through the experience we've gained, the relationships we've built, and the productions we've brought to the country, Lantica Studios has also developed a reputation and identity of its own within the international film industry.
Today, this new chapter as a fully Dominican-owned company is a source of great pride for us. It reflects not only how far we've come as a company, but also the progress of the Dominican film industry as a whole.
4. Among your facilities, including sound stages, workshops and production infrastructure, the Horizon Water Tank stands out as a particularly distinctive asset in the region. Why is this facility such an important competitive advantage, and what types of productions does it attract?
It is a significant advantage because there are very few facilities of this kind worldwide. It is a highly specialised structure designed for productions involving water.
Its rarity is already a competitive advantage. However, what makes the Dominican Republic particularly attractive is the combination of this specialised infrastructure with an available workforce, competitive incentives, strategic location, and the wider resources required to support major productions.
There are very few destinations that can offer all these elements together. That combination is what makes the difference and encourages international production companies to come to the Dominican Republic to film water-based sequences.
5. You have expressed the ambition of positioning the Dominican Republic as Latin America's leading film hub. What needs to happen to achieve this objective, and how does Lantica Studios contribute to that vision?
The most important requirement is institutional stability. This means ensuring legal certainty, particularly regarding the country's legislation, incentives and the way the regulatory framework is implemented.
I would identify this as the single most important factor in building a sustainable film industry.
For its part, Lantica Studios is constantly working to secure additional projects with the international companies I mentioned earlier. Building that recurring production base is essential to the long-term development of the industry.
6. Global investment in content continues to grow, driven by platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. What does Lantica Studios' service model offer to attract and retain international film and streaming productions?
Our model is based on providing a comprehensive, end-to-end service.
We offer the studio infrastructure itself, production services and access to the country's film incentives. We also facilitate the recruitment of local professionals, the sourcing of equipment and technical personnel, and access to filming locations and other production resources.
Essentially, we aim to provide a complete, 360-degree service that covers every aspect of a production's requirements.
That integrated approach is what makes us a regional leader and enables us to deliver the level of service expected by major Hollywood studios.
7. Law 108-10 has been a major driving force behind the development of the Dominican film industry. How do you assess the country's film incentive framework and its role in attracting foreign investment in production?
The incentives are fundamental because they allow us to compete internationally. More than 100 jurisdictions around the world offer film incentives, so the Dominican Republic must have a competitive framework to attract productions that could otherwise choose alternative filming destinations.
For us, these incentives are indispensable. Without the film law and its associated incentives, the industry would not be able to compete effectively. It is really a binary issue: the incentives are what gives us a chance to compete internationally to capture the big productions.
8. Talent is the foundation of any successful creative industry. How does Lantica develop local professionals through ECC and its partnerships with universities and academic institutions? How has this contributed to the growth of creative employment, from hundreds of workers to thousands of annual engagements?
ECC is a non-profit organisation established by Lantica Studios shortly after the studio itself was created, and primarily funded by Lantica.
Initially, its purpose was to identify talented technical professionals already working in the industry and provide them with more structured training. Many of these individuals had acquired their skills through practical experience, so we wanted to complement that knowledge with certified, academically structured programmes.
Over time, we have established agreements with several universities and technical schools, working with them to adapt their existing programmes to the specific needs of the film industry.
For example, traditional electrical training can be adapted to prepare electricians for film production, while make-up programmes can be tailored to train professional film make-up artists.
We currently collaborate with six or seven academic and technical institutions, and we continue to organise numerous training courses to prepare more people to enter the industry.
Our objective is to ensure that the Dominican Republic has the skilled workforce required to support the continued expansion of film production.
9. Beyond providing services to international productions, Lantica also produces its own content. What role does this activity play in telling Dominican and Latin American stories and bringing them to international audiences and film festivals?
For us, it is primarily about exporting culture, a way of life and a particular perspective on the world. It is about showing international audiences who Dominicans are and how they live.
This is essential not only for the Dominican Republic but for every country seeking to project its identity internationally. We place particular emphasis on supporting stories by Dominican directors.
Initially, producing Dominican films also served as a way of training local professionals, with productions taking place here at the studio. However, we have now trained a considerable number of people, and our priorities are evolving.
Today, we want to focus increasingly on developing Dominican creativity and talent, giving local filmmakers the opportunity to tell their own stories and bring them to wider audiences.
10. This Dominican Republic special supplement is being published ahead of the World Government Summit in Dubai, at a time of growing interest across the Gulf in cinema, production studios and the global content industry. What opportunities do you see for co-productions and investment partnerships with the United Arab Emirates and the wider Gulf region?
I believe there are several opportunities.
Lantica is part of the wider asset management group INICIA, which has a substantial corporate and investment presence across different sectors. As a result, we are familiar with the business culture, corporate structures and financial processes involved in raising capital and establishing strategic partnerships.
From an investment perspective, there are opportunities in the Dominican Republic, particularly when it comes to expanding our existing facilities and transforming the studio into an even more technologically advanced production complex.
We are looking at new technologies, including projection mapping, LED projection and artificial intelligence. In fact, we are already producing our first film using artificial intelligence, and we are positioning ourselves at the forefront of these technological developments in the region.
There are also opportunities in the Gulf itself. If investors or companies in the region are considering developing a film studio, Lantica can bring considerable expertise to the table.
We have extensive experience in attracting major international productions to a destination that may initially be considered unconventional or exotic, and in helping establish an entire film industry around that infrastructure.
This experience could be valuable to countries in the Gulf seeking to develop their own production capabilities.
Ultimately, we see opportunities not only to attract investment into the Dominican Republic but also to share our expertise with partners in the Gulf who want to build world-class production facilities and develop their own film industries.
