8665: Re: 8652: "Deportation" (movie) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: E Vedrine <evedrine@hotmail.com>


"Deportation" (movie)

  DEPORTATION:
  http://deportationmovie.com/index4.htm
  New movie by Haitian artist & film maker,
  Patrick Jerome

["Patrick Jerome
Writer, Director, Producer

The name Patrick Jerome is one that could certainly be synonymous with 
intense determination and artistic talent. The person behind the name has 
undoubtedly experienced a lifetime of challenges and achievements that 
deserves such admiration and praise. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 
Patrick's strong religious upbringing had encouraged him, at age seven, to 
sing in his family's church choir. Over the following years, the spiritual 
joys of home, church and singing shaped his sense of right, especially in 
the face of his country's oppressive climate. The culmination of these 
experiences fueled Patrick's desires for artistic expression of his 
political and social views that reflected his generation's culture but which 
spoke to all Haitian people.

At sixteen, Patrick found his first creative outlet for such commentary in 
the world of music. From the start, Patrick endured pressures by the 
government, which censored the revolutionary ideas in his original lyrics 
and stifled his career. After five years of perseverance, Patrick triumphed 
in 1988 by completing his first song recording, which spawned a music video 
that became a national hit in Haiti. The production and success of the video 
had greatly stimulated Patrick's interest in the visual arts, and it 
inspired him to pursue another life-long dream: that of filmmaker. To 
Patrick, cinema was a natural extension of his musical artistry to 
articulate his philosophies in an entertaining fashion.

But film enticed Patrick because of its pictorial dynamism, narrative 
structure and emotional impact to showcase his ideals with more immediacy.

After receiving training and fostering relationships with established 
Haitian filmmakers, Patrick produced and directed his debut movie, 'Rezo San 
Pitye' (Gang without Pity). The film touched on the unstable Haitian system 
of rule and depicted the insecurity of its citizens. Adding to the 
controversy of the film's theme was the 1991 military coup of the Haitian 
government just one week after 'Rezo San Pitye' was released. This new 
intolerant military administration didn't just want to ban the film - they 
wanted Patrick's head. As a man wanted for treason, Patrick was forced into 
hiding for nearly eighteen months. Fearing for his life as police were 
closing in on him, Patrick fled to the United States in March 1993 and was 
granted political asylum.

Now living in Boston, MA, Patrick has performed in the U.S. and Canada, 
appearing in venues such as the Strand Theater, the John Hancock Hall and 
Boston Public Access Television. Currently, his production company, 'Bway 7 
Productions', has been producing a Boston TV show called International 
Rhythms. Every Saturday night, this show brings to Greater Boston sixty 
minutes of international music videos that welcome new talents as well as 
previewing Patrick's own videos. While these ventures have brought Patrick 
great fulfillment, they have never displaced his love for filmmaking.

It would be seven years before Patrick would have opportunity to begin his 
first U.S. production of a film from a story that he had conceived after his 
arrival to this country. It would reflect the fragility of personal freedom 
in America from the vantage of an alien resident, while assessing the 
universal values of loyalty and friendship - both ideas mirroring Patrick's 
experiences and beliefs from his native Haiti. The resulting film, 
Deportation, was written, produced and directed by Patrick Jerome from his 
heart and soul and with the fortitude to see it through to completion.

Patrick hopes Deportation will be the first of many U.S. films he yearns to 
make with such passion."]


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