Movies - Haiti Observer Blog

Following is a list of some of Haiti's most revered and/or prolific filmmakers and their filmic output:

Arnold Antonin, Albert Mangones, Art Naif and Repression in Haiti (1976), Can Sculpture Save the Village of Noailles (2009), Haiti, le Chemin de la Liberté (1973), Heby, Jazz, and Haitian Music (2012), Jacques Roumain, the Passion for a Country (2008), Six Exceptional Women (2012), TIGA: Haiti, Dream, Creation, Possession, Madness (2006)

Vladimir Thelisma, Double Jeu ((2001), Couloir de L'amitié (2010), Destin Tragique (2006), Les Couleurs de la Dignite (2006)

Richard Seneca, Barikad (2003), I Love You Anne (2005), I Love you Anne 2 (2005), Reginal Lubin, La Peur D'aimer, Pouki se Mwen

Herold Israel and Peter Ronald Berlus, Collusion (2009), Histoire D'infidèles (2009), Lovdatnet (2009), Xtreme Blue (2008)

Read more →  

Haitians are rabid movie-goers. Their frequent forays to attend movies has enabled the Haitian film industry to keep producing topical films on pressing social concerns as well as lighter fare. Because Haitians are going to see film in droves, it has allowed the Haitian film industry to steadily increase the amount of product they make, currently a dozen full-length films annually.

Haiti ties with Cuba as the Caribbean regions' most prolific film making country. This is possible because of inexpensive hand-held video cameras, capable of producing quality screen pictures. The cost of an average full-length film costs approximately $40,000.

Read more →  

Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde has eventually unveiled, during Cannes Film Festival, its latest edition's project lineup. The aim of Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde that was launched in 2009, is to find financers who can finance the works of different filmmakers from developing countries. Fabrique is located in Cannes' Cinéma du Monde pavilion and is a result of a joint initiative by Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France and Institut francais.

The project lineup for Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde 2013 include The Sigbin Chronicles by Joanna Arong and The Siren of Faso Fani by Michel K. Zongo. While Joanna's work is hovered around mythical Filipino creature, Zongo's work covers the impacts on a town called Burkina Faso because of the closure of its textile factory.

Read more →  

Here is the documentary that you have heard so much about. Assistance Mortelle or Fatal Assistance in English was realized by Hatian filmmaker Raoul Peck. It is an exposé that provides a look at the response of the international community following the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. This film that made its World Premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, has a duration of 1:45 minutes.

Se dokimantè ou te tande anpil pale sou li. "Asistans Mortelle" te reyalize pa Hatian sineast Raoul Peck. Se yon ekspoze ki bay yon gade sou tranbleman tè 12 janvye 2010 an Ayiti.

Read more →  

Haitian Raoul Peck, documentarian and feature-filmmaker, began life in Port-au-Prince in 1953. A few years later, François Duvalier's reign began, creating fear in Haitians and causing many to leave and reside elsewhere. Peck's family moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where they lived for the next quarter-century. Peck studied in the DRC and the U.S., his interests drawing him to journalism and photography, but he earned his film degree in Berlin.

As documentarian, Raoul Peck produced and directed before entering feature filmmaking. He achieved early success with 1993's "The Man by the Shore", which became an official entry at Cannes that year. Then Peck received unprecedented global recognition for his film "Lumumba" in 2000. His subsequent film, "Lumumba--Death of a Prophet", grabbed Best Documentary award at Montréal in 2002. He has also received many awards for directing attention to human-rights abuses in his film work. Human Rights Watch bestowed two Lifetime Achievement Awards on him in 2001 and 2003.

Read more →  

It is always thought wiser to teach a man to fish than to hand him one. This is a sentiment that Jean Dominique shaped his career around upon returning to Haiti from private school in France. Working with the poor, he took his training in agronomy to teach the peasantry how to sustain themselves through skillful use of the land.

Because of his efforts, which included showing peasant farmers how to avoid being in debt to wealthy landowners, Dominique was imprisoned for six months due to the connivance of the landowners who convinced the authorities to jail him so they could hold on to their control over the peasants. Upon his release from jail, he became a fierce detractor of François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier and his militant regime.

Read more →  

Jeux dangereux or Dangerous Game and Le chauffeur or Driver, are the two Haitian films that were officially selected (category Diaspora) for 23rd Pan-African Film & TV Festival of Ouagadougou (aka FESPACO or Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou), 2013 that was held during 23rd February till 2nd March 2013 in Burkina Faso of West Africa. Antoine Boseny directed Jeux dangereux while Le chauffeur's director was Jean-Claude Bourjolly.

The finalists for category Diaspora were selected by the jury members Carlos Aguilar from Panama, Asha Lovelace of Trinidad & Tobago, Tanya Valette from Dominican Republic, Beti Ellerson from United States of America and Arnold Antonin from Haiti. Arnold Antonin is himself a filmmaker who won three Prix Paul Robeson of Best Film award at African Diaspora FESPACO in the years 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Read more →  

Toussaint L'Ouverture, modern Haiti's liberator, joined the slave revolt on the island--known then as Saint Domingue--in 1788. A freed slave, who had acquired a fortune, he fought alongside Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haiti's first president.

Produced by Raoul Peck, the "Toussaint L'Ouverture" film project languished for several years in Hollywood. It finally received the needed funding from Hollywood Unites for Haiti Foundation and was green-lighted. The two-part, three-hour film previewed at Cuba Cinemathique in April 2012. Prior to the screening, the French production was broadcast on French television, where it drew an audience of 3 million.

On the strength of positive reviews, the Embassy of the Republic of Haiti to Cuba and Traveling Caribbean Film submitted it to international film festivals. "Toussaint L'Ouverture" was nominated in several categories in Montréal, Monte Carlos, and Washington, winning The Black Reel Award for Outstanding Foreign Film. It won Best Actor and the Audience Award at the Pan American Film and Arts Festival, and a Best Actor award at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. It also captured Best Diaspora Feature at the Africa Movie Academy Awards.

Read more →  

Alex Désert, birth date of July 18, 1968, is a Haitian-American actor, who has been featured in multitudes of TV, film, and commercial acting roles. He first made an impression on viewers on a CBS series called TV 101, working with Matt Le Blanc of Friends fame. In another CBS project, The Flash, he portrayed forensic lab technician, Julio Mendez. Other TV vehicles followed including The Heights (1992) and Becker (1998-2004), with Ted Danson.

In film, Alex Desert has worked twice with Jon Favreau, first in PCU, then Swingers, and with John Cusak in High Fidelity (2000). He made a Sarah Silverman web advertisement, The Great Schlep, a public service announcement of sorts, in which Jewish, college-age students are asked to travel to Florida and urge their grandparents to vote for Barak Obama in 2008.

Read more →  

Jamie Hector, birth date of October 7, 1975, is a Haitian-American actor, who began his acting career right out of high school, beginning in community theater. While enrolled in college, he auditioned and won roles on New York Undercover, Third Watch, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Beat. He is best known for playing Marlo Stanfield on HBO's much talked-about series The Wire.

As a film actor, Jamie Hector has appeared in Spike Lee's Clockers, He Got Game, Ghost Dog, Prison Song, and Everyday People. In 2003, Hector won acclaim as an actor in the film Five Deep Breaths, an Official Selection at major film festivals (Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, and IFP). The short film garnered 16 awards, and attracted the attention of David Simon, who gave him the role of Marlo Stanfield in The Wire.

Read more →