21679: (Arthur) London audience gripped by Dominique film (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

London audience gripped by Dominique film
Haiti Support Group - 4 May 2004

There was a full-house on 28 April at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton, south
London, for the special screening of "The Agronomist", Jonathan Demme's
film-portrait of Haiti's pioneering radio journalist, Jean Dominique. The film was shown
as part of the French Institute's Sixth Mosaiques Festival to celebrate
cultural diversity through films, live music and discussions on world literature,
music and cinema.

The documentary tells the story of Jean Dominique's trail-blazing radio
station and its role in the continuing struggle of Haiti's majority population for
inclusion and participation in a grotesquely unequal society.

After the screening, Rod Prince, author of 'Haiti: Family Business' and
former editor of 'Caribbean Insight' magazine, described the film as "a remarkable
piece of work", and said he hoped that it gets a run at other cinemas
throughout the UK. "It's an impressive and emotional introduction to Haiti that
deserves considerable exposure", said Prince.

In a discussion following the screening, Haiti Support Group director,
Charles Arthur, outlined the as yet failed investigation to bring Jean Dominique's
murderers to justice. He also expressed his hope that Radio Haiti Inter -
forced to close down again in February 2003 because of fears for the safety of its
staff - would soon re-open.

Arthur said that Jean Dominique's voice and analysis were sorely missed in
Haiti today. He remarked that given his run-ins with the Haitian Army over the
years, Dominique would have had plenty to say about its reappearance on the
political scene today.

Another member of the Haiti Support Group, Leyla Werleigh-Pearson, also spoke
movingly about Jean Dominique and Michele Montas, family friends whom she
last saw ten years ago. Ian Thomson, whose book, "Bonjour Blanc, a journey
through Haiti" was re-launched the same evening, described his enduring attachment
to Haiti and its people, and reminisced about his first travels around the
country in the early 1990s.

Also among the audience were Octavio Zuniga, who worked at Radio Haiti in
1997; the BBC World Service's Nick Caistor; former Reuters reporter in Haiti,
Anna Wardenburg; and Charlie Gillett, the well-known radio disc-jockey.

The Haiti Support Group plans to arrange further screenings of 'The
Agronomist' in the UK.
______________________________________________


This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group.

See the Haiti Support Group web site:
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
____________________________________________