Today marks the 30th anniversary of the assault on the Banco del Progreso. The incident occurred on March 1, 1993, when the surgeon Cristóbal Payano perpetrated the assault by remaining inside the facilities for more than 12 hours.
This tragedy motivated José María Cabral to film “Check Mate”. The Dominican filmmaker declared on his Twitter account that “things were taken from real events, but turned to fiction; what interested me the most was the media game during the kidnapping.”
Today marks the 30th anniversary of this unfortunate event. It served as inspiration in 2010 to shoot the movie Checkmate, released in 2012. Things were taken from real events but turned into fiction. What interested me the most was the media game during the kidnapping. I continue 🧵 pic.twitter.com/oNO4ITbAIj
—JM Cabral (@josemariacabral) March 1, 2023
According to data from the Directorate General of Cinema (DGCine), it grossed RD$12.5 million, being the fourth highest grossing film of 2012, below “Ugly by day, beautiful by night” by Alfonso Rodríguez, RD$79 million; “Lotoman 2.0” by Archie López, RD$75.7 million; and “El Rey de Najayo”, RD$26 million, being produced by the current Minister of Tourism, David Collado.
The film recounts that television presenter David Hernández finds out that his family is being kidnapped and has to deal with the kidnapper’s sick game while cheering on live television.
In addition, it was on the billboard for 12 weeks, which attracted 83,181 viewers to movie theaters.
“It really caught my attention how the country was shocked to a standstill to see the kidnapping live and how the negotiations were taking place on television… We concentrated on that theme to get away from the real event and have a different story, but with similar elements,” pondered.
The cast was made up of Frank Perozo, Michelle Vargas, Sharlene Taulé, Sergio Carlo, Johnie Mercedes and David Ortiz.