Agliberto Melendez is a Dominican film director best known as the director of '' A One Way Ticket'' (Un Pasaje de Ida), the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

's first feature-length film, produced entirely in the Dominican Republic by a Dominican cast and crew. The film became known to American audiences after its 1988 debut in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New Directors/New Films Festival The New Directors/New Films Festival is an annual film festival held in New York City, and organized jointly by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Film at Lincoln Center, previously known as the Film Society o ...

. ''A One Way Ticket'' gained some notoriety because of its macabre subject matter; the story of would be immigrants who die in their desperate struggle to escape a fate of poverty and despair. ''A One Way Ticket'', shot under very adverse conditions, proved to everyone that it could be done. In 1979 Agliberto Melendez founded the Cinemateca Nacional, quickly becoming the meeting place for like-minded film enthusiasts. He single-handedly led the Cinemateca Nacional through very hard times but managed to stay afloat until it was finally forced to close its doors in 1986 following the election of right wing candidate

Joaquín Balaguer Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (1 September 1906 – 14 July 2002) was a Dominican politician, scholar, writer, and lawyer. He was President of the Dominican Republic serving three non-consecutive terms for that office from 1960 to 196 ...

. The Cinemateca Nacional introduced classics from the world cinema to a fresh and enthusiastic new audience. His perseverance and single-minded vision made Agliberto Melendez the undisputed film pioneer of Dominican Cinema. He currently teaches cinema studies in the Dominican Republic and prepares his next feature: "Del Color de la Noche" based on the life of José Francisco Peña Gómez which he began preproduction this year.

External links

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New York Times Review of One way Ticket
Dominican Republic film directors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{NorthAm-film-director-stub