16045: (hermantin) Miami Herald-New generation of Haitian filmmakers are making a scene (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Jun. 29, 2003

New generation of Haitian filmmakers are making a scene
BY KATHELINE ST. FORT
Special to The Herald


Last year, Wilkenson Bruna approached the Sunrise theater chain about
showing his film, Wind of Desire. Even though the company's screens show
many non-mainstream, foreign and obscure cinema, Bruna was met with the cold
face of skepticism.

Could a movie with a Haitian-American cast draw an audience? Mitch Dreier, a
manager for the Sunrise chain, wasn't sure. But he booked it anyway, making
the Intracoastal in North Miami Beach the first theater in the country to
premiere a Haitian-American feature.

Then came the crowds. The response was so overwhelming that he played Desire
for nearly a month. ''Clearly, the Haitian community was ready to embrace
dramatic material,'' says Dreier by phone.

NEW GENERATION

Once a virtually nonexistent industry, Haitian filmmaking is on the rise,
ushering in a new generation of filmmakers and growing audiences. In
addition to the Sunrise Intracoastal, the California Club theater in North
Miami-Dade has also shown these films, a premiere of Millionnaire par Erreur
was due to take place Saturday night at the North Miami Beach Performing
Arts Center, 40 Ans Apres -- filmmaker Mario Delatour's documentary about
poet-activist Roussan Camille -- was showcased at the African-American
Research Library in Fort Lauderdale and earlier this month at Florida
International University, and many of the movies are available on video in
some South Florida stores.

The surge is due in part to the support of the ever-increasing Haitian
population outside Haiti and digital video, which many have credited with
providing an outlet for moviemakers working with tissue-thin budgets. Until
now, the best-known Haitian filmmaker was Raoul Peck, whose accolades
include having had the first Caribbean film to be in competition at the
Cannes Film Festival (L'homme Sur les Quais), receiving France's coveted
Order of Arts and Literature for his body of work, and nabbing the
prestigious Paul Robeson Award for his 2000 movie Lumumba. HBO has even
called on him to direct the Martin Scorsese-produced biopic of 19th century
militant abolitionist John Brown.

But Peck is no longer alone. Take Richard Sénécal. His film Barikad
(Barricade), produced with a DVCam on a budget under $60,000 and edited on
Apple's Final Cut suite, has been sparking positive buzz among Miami's
Haitian and Haitian-American community.

Also, such names as Haiti's Arnold Antonin (Piwouli et le Zenglendo --
Piwouli and the Thug), Canada's Hilaire Absalon (Les Controverses -- The
Controversies) and Orlando's Jean-Claude Guillaume (Conféssions) are now
telling their cinematic stories of the Haitian diaspora.

''The digital camera changed moviemaking here,'' says Antonin in a phone
interview. ``Before, there were no financial means to produce movies in
Haiti. Film was expensive in itself and you had to have it developed in a
lab overseas.''

Simultaneously, distribution and audiences have started to become more
sophisticated. Filmmakers used to trudge around Haiti, hauling their movies
from theater to theater. Often it took up to two years for the directors to
cover the entire country, leaving little time to work on follow-up
productions and fresh scripts. Now, the firm Communication Plus S.A., has
emerged to take over that function.

''We lose some rights,'' says Sénécal of the new arrangement, via phone.
``But, at least things are done quicker.''

As for the audience, Sénécal estimates there are 100,000 Haitians, out of a
population of roughly eight million, who can afford to go to movies in
Haiti, the western hemisphere's poorest country. However, the number of
Haitians living abroad -- mostly in the United States, Canada and France --
is estimated at two million (with some 213,000 in South Florida, according
to the U.S. census), widening the market considerably.

''We're dealing with an audience that's becoming more and more demanding,''
says Antonin.

He adds that he was surprised when recently, after coming from a movie
screening in Haiti, he overheard the intelligent analysis of a group of
young moviegoers. 'I hear their comments all the time. Sometimes it's on the
story, `Oh, that actor was terrible.' Sometimes even on technical stuff.
'Oh, that scene was not too well-lit.' ''

CONTROVERSIES ARISE

But controversy is riding the coattails of this new sensibility. To eye the
lavish mansions and glamorous lives of the films' protagonists, one would
think that the impoverished Haiti depicted in the media is fabricated.
According to Antonin, Creole, the language of Haiti's populace, is rarely
used in these films in favor of French. Moreover, he argues that the
characters lead a life that is not reality for much of the population.

But, say some, that is the whole point. ''It's what the public wants,'' says
producer-screenwriter Mora Etienne, 31, by phone. Etienne prompted much
discussion with a love scene -- innocent by American standards -- in Le
Choix de ma Vie (My Life's Choice).

Aside from heated debates about reality, Haiti's digital cinema is plagued
by accusations of sexism. In particular, the films of Raynald Delerme have
been cited for their portrayals of gold-digging, self-serving women. Out of
the 17 or so digital features that have been released in the past seven
years, none were directed by a woman.

''It's just that they don't get an opportunity,'' says Sénécal, who points
out that most of the women filmmakers from the country work abroad. ``It's
not a politics thing.''

And then there are the bootleggers. Sénécal says that shortly after Barikad
-- as well as colleague Smoyé Noisy's feature Millionnaire par Erreur
(Millionaire by Mistake) were in theaters -- DVD and VHS tapes of the films
were already selling in Port-au-Prince streets.

''There are no regulations to protect us,'' says Etienne, who bemoans that
distributors make more money from his films than he does.

''When you've completed a movie,'' he continues, ``you take it to the
theaters who want half, I should say 60 percent [of the profits], because
they'll tell you you have to give off a tariff of 10 percent to the
government. After you pay your actors, there's not much left for yourself.''

Financing, all the moviemakers agree, is a hassle. Etienne says it takes him
up to three years to come up with the money for each of his projects. Unlike
many governments, Haiti has no film commission to help the industry. By most
accounts, while the period of government repressing the arts has long ended,
there's still not much encouragement -- financial or moral.

Says Sénécal, ``Artists or creators promoting government ideas or projects
obviously get more direct support.''

Banks and other businesses, obvious choices as prospective financiers,
rarely invest in films. And when they do, they demand that the filmmakers
feature their businesses in the storyline. This often results in the
features resembling ensemble commercials more than movies.

What happens now with the Haitian film scene, which has not had much
exposure to non-Haitian audiences, remains nebulous. Says Sénécal, who
recalls seeing a finished movie in which the sound engineer could be clearly
seen for five minutes, ``At some point, there's got to be some sort of
self-criticism on the part of filmmakers.''

''Our cinema is not yet up to the reputation of our art. Nor of our
literature,'' says Antonin. ``We have a big job to do.''

And the future is not assured. ''Right now, we have three, four movies come
out per year,'' says Etienne. If financing hurdles continue, says Etienne,
the output will be reduced to just one per year.

CARVE A NICHE

Antonin is more optimistic. To make an enduring impression, he states, the
moviemakers in his country have to carve a niche all their own. ''Every
country in the world has their stamp on cinema,'' he asserts. 'In Italy,
there was neo-realism, which basically set up Italian cinema's reputation.
There's New Cinema in Brazil. Poetic Realism and what they call New Wave in
France. All contributed to world cinema and at the same time, advanced these
individual countries' cinema. We ourselves need to find a cinema language
that will reflect our country's dilemmas.''

Katheline St. Fort is a South Florida freelance writer.

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