Venues

Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and covers an area of approximately 1,401 square kilometers with a population of 2,193,046 inhabitants. Santo Domingo was the first settlement established in the New World and is considered the cradle of evangelization in the Americas. Having served as the set for internationally renowned and high budget films such as The Godfather II, Havana and La Fiesta del Chivo (The Feast of the Goat), among others, has consolidated this city's relationship with the Seventh Art of cinema.

Santiago covers an area of 2,389 kilometers, and in addition to being the country's second largest city, it is also the most important city of the province bearing the same name. Its rums and liquors have acquired international fame, contributing to the economic development of the city, and its land is mainly used for crops and agro industry. Santiago is well-known for its industrial free zones and its deeply rooted cultural traditions, which are expressed in a rich and varied folklore. It also possesses one of the most popular baseball teams of the island—Las Aguilas Cibaeñas.

The city of Baní, the capital of the Peravia province, is one of the new additions to the roster of venues for the DR Environmental Film Festival, with about 61,864 residents spread over 743.79 square kilometers. It is only about an hour's drive west of Santo Domingo along the Southern coast of the Dominican Republic. Baní is a tightly-knit agricultural community known for its production of bananas, coffee and mangoes, which are celebrated in June of each year during Baní's annual mango festival, which attracts visitors from all over the country. Located nearby in the Peravia province is Salinas, a town by the Salinas Bay famous for its sand dunes, which make the DR the country with the largest sand dunes in the Caribbean. Many famous baseball players hail from Baní, including José Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, and it is said that the world-famous bachata group Aventura got its start playing at Baní's clubs and bars.

The popular tourist destination Punta Cana is located in the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic, about an hour from the capital city of the province, Higüey, and 3 hours from Santo Domingo. The area is best known for its beaches spread across about 100 kilometers of coastline, and has an estimated population of about 100,000 residents. PUNTACANA Resort and Club is one of the oldest resorts in the Punta Cana area, founded by Grupo PUNTACANA in the 1970s. Recognized as a leader in sustainable tourism, the resort encompasses over 15,000 acres and includes a spa, two championship golf courses, an Ecological Reserve with 15 natural springs, a full service marina, several restaurants and a shopping village. In addition to the property's PUNTACANA hotel, Dominican fashion icon Oscar de la Renta designed the luxurious Tortuga Bay Villas, the only AAA Five Diamond hotel in the Dominican Republic. In honor of its responsible luxury practices, its ecological foundation, its golf course watering preservation system, among other efforts, the resort received the 2011 Travel + Leisure Global Vision Award and the 2009 Condé Nast World Savers Award.

The largest city on the northern seaboard, Puerto Plata covers an area of 509 square kilometers and boasts a population of 286,558 inhabitants. The nearby Playa Dorada and Costa Dorada beaches make tourism one of the staples of its economy, but agribusiness is also important to the city. The port around which Puerto Plata is built is one of the most active in the Caribbean, and has a major impact on both the provincial and national economies. Another feature which distinguishes the city is its aerial tramway which allows visitors to scale the793-meter mountain Isabel de Torres, which borders the city to the South. The mountaintop features a botanical garden and a replica of the famous Rio de Janeiro Christ the Redeemer statue.

Located just a 10-minute drive from Puerto Plata, Sosúa is another north-coast town of the Dominican Republic nourished by the tourism industry. With a population of just about 70,000 inhabitants on 276 square kilometers, the beaches of Sosúa attract many water sports enthusiasts because of their sheltered, calm waters, diverse species of fish and intricate reef structures. In the winter whale watching is also a popular tourist activity, with excursions leaving frequently from Sosúa Bay during the month of February. A popular destination for Europeans, there is a very large expatriate community in Sosua, which consists of mostly German, British, American, and Canadian expats. Sosúa also boasts the largest Jewish community in the Dominican Republic, a result of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo offering asylum to around 100,000 Jews in 1938, the majority of whom settled in Sosúa and continue to operate the dairy and cheese factory, Productos Sosúa, which they constructed using the land and resources provided by the government at that time.

Situated in the heart of the Dominican Republic, San Francisco de Macorís is the fourth-largest city in the country with a population of 245,397 on 727 square kilometers of land. It is the capital of the Duarte province, located in the northern region of Cibao, which is known for its rich, black soil and fertile farmlands. San Francisco de Macorís represents the agroindustry in the Dominican Republic, as it is one of the largest producers of diverse products from cacao and coffee to fruits and rice. The city is also home to one of the largest universities in the DR, la Universidad Católica Nordestana.