The film Flow Calle, which will debut in theaters in the US next Friday the 22nd followed by Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on March 24, is distributed by Spanglish Movies. “More than a movie, it is part of an empowerment platform for urban talent,” is how Riccardo Bardellino, general producer of the film, the reality show and the album, describes it. Flow Calle is also launching this month in Colombia and Central America.
“The initiative began with a reality show. In that reality, made during the pandemic and supported by digital, we opened the participation for 500 contestants, 30 were selected and a committee was assembled with producers, performers, composers and people in general from the music world. We were looking for different traits in the talents: from stage domain, lyrics, interpretation, style, flow, among others. Those 30 participants were evaluated resulting in three winners. Thus began Flow Calle as a platform. The three winners are part of the film” explains Bardellino. The production of the film also includes Leticia Tonos, “one of the three women with the most participation in Dominican cinema.”
The film, starring the Colombian singer Farina, is based on “a story of what Latin America is, of how a young woman decides to change her environment through music,” he said. Flow Calle was directed by Frank Perozo and produced by Caribbean Films.
“It is a very ambitious film where we cast well-known exponents of acting and urban music from Puerto Rico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. We are using the urban music triangle” he said. In addition to Farina, the film features Shalim Ortiz, Lincoln Palomeque, Clarissa Molina, Kiko “El Crazy” and Lenny Tavárez, among others.
Given the existence of so much urban music talent with different styles, Bardellino suggested Zumaya Cordero, general director of Operations at Caribbean Cinema, for the recording of an album.
Flow Calle, produced by DJ Nelson and composed by Farina herself, DJ Nelson and Andy Bauza, is available since March 4 on all digital music platforms.
“Flow Calle is the promotional theme of the film and it is very attached to what we are bringing to the screen, to all the elements that make up urban music, which is a complete product: it has a flow, a sense of fashion and an attitude” Bardellino pointed out.
For Bardellino, Flow Calle seems to be the most ambitious project that has come along in the last 12 or 13 years of great growth that Dominican cinema has experienced. “It was very complicated to unite that number of artists, of different nationalities and put them to work under the same vision, willing to collaborate. It was a pretty big challenge.”