me in narrative filmmaking.’
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NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
After moving to San Juan, I wanted to make a movie that reflected this love. Then I saw an article in the local newspaper about this novel that won the Romulo Gallegos Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Latin America. I left word at a Radio Station where the author, Eduardo Lalo was being interviewed.
Adapting the book was a challenge… as it was not your straight up story. It was poetry, intellectual and at the same time very erotic. It told the story of the invisible people on the island of dysfunctional and talented people and a love story that nurtured its protagonists despite its outcome.
We fought hard to make it. We had to use our savings to shoot one day in December 2018 to save our tax incentive. In January 2019 we restarted only to have to stop because our Cooperative that was financing the tax incentive and equity found out they could not invest equity legally. When we restarted finally with new investors in 2020, we were shut down by COVID-19 19 in March.
After a solid struggle, we were only the second film in the US to be authorized to restart. We finally finished in the summer. We edited it via zoom and face time.
Despite all of this, I believe this film was blessed.
ABOUT
Betty Kaplan
C
urrently residing in Puerto Rico, together with her partner the producer Peter Rawley,
writer and film director Betty Kaplan presents her latest production: Simone. This is not the first time that Kaplan has brought a book to the big screen. Her first film DE AMOR Y SOMBRAS, based on the novel by Isabel Allende, starring Antonio Banderas and Jennifer Connelly, was released by
Miramax Films and sold worldwide. DOÑA BARBARA, her second feature film, based on the Venezuelan classic by Rómulo Gallegos, was released by Universal Pictures. Her third film ALMOST A WOMAN, based on Esmeralda Santiago’s book, won the prestigious PEABODY and IMAGE AWARD.
She directed for Venezuelan television the acclaimed miniseries and CAMINOS QUE ANDAN, a series
of fourteen docu-dramas about the lives of Latin American writers. She recently completed the play PENETRATUS at the Pasadena Playhouse. She was chair of the LATIN COMMITTEE of the DGA, which produces important events for the Director’s Guild of America. Her next project is to film on the island the scripts of her authorship for a detective series titled, AGAINST THE TIDE.
In 2019, Kaplan presented her first opera at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, EVA LUNA which establishes her as a tireless creator of works of great cultural importance.’
Betty Kaplan director
Betty Kaplan has written and directed award winning movies and television which have been seen worldwide. She has a way with actors, has a keen visual eye and knows how to get into the audience’s heart and keep them on the edge of their seats. She is Tri-lingual and Bi–Cultural being both Venezuelan and North American. Her films include Latin American classics, Isabel Allende’s “OF LOVE AND SHADOWS”, Romulo Gallego’s “DOÑA BÁRBARA”. She won the coveted Peabody for “ALMOST A WOMAN”, based on Puerto Rico’s Esmeralda Santiago’s beloved book. Her specialty is bringing books to the screen and winning the audience awards worldwide. The opera she wrote based on Isabel Allende’s book EVA LUNA was recently performed at San Juan’s Conservatory of Music.
