30716: Hermantin(News)Film industry blooms in volatile Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, Jul. 06, 2007
Film industry blooms in volatile Haiti
By STEVENSON JACOBS
Even in hard times, Haitians go to the movies. Now they're also making them in 
record numbers - about 10 feature films a year - rivaling Cuba as the 
Caribbean's biggest movie producer and often outselling better-financed 
imports.
The ultimate dream? To transform the impoverished, politically volatile country 
of 8 million into a cinema powerhouse - Haitiwood - following the lead of India 
and Nigeria.

While most Haitian industries are stagnant, show business is booming, driven by 
plunging production costs and an appetite among Haitians at home and abroad for 
movies shot in their native Haitian Creole.

"Movies are becoming Haiti's most popular art form after music," said Arnold 
Antonin, a director and president of the Haitian Filmmakers Association.
He estimates Haitian film production has risen 300 percent in the last five 
years, including an explosion in straight-to-DVD releases shot in Haitian 
immigrant communities in the U.S.

The country's first Creole-language film was released in 1980 - Rassoul 
Labuchin's "Anita," about a peasant girl who becomes a servant for a wealthy 
family.

Today Haiti still does not have a national film commission to finance local 
production. But cameras have continued to roll, even after a bloody 2004 revolt 
that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and plunged the country into 
tumult.
"Despite all the political chaos and economic problems, Haitian cinema keeps 
growing," said Richard Senecal, another Haitian director whose 2006 film 
"Cousins" was featured in several international film festivals.

The arrival of inexpensive digital video cameras and editing equipment opened 
the door to budding Haitian filmmakers, lowering production cost from hundreds 
of thousands of dollars or more to about $40,000 - money that typically comes 
from private sponsors or local investors who receive a percentage of the film's 
earnings.

While lacking technical polish, Haitian films are exploring weighty social 
issues.
Last year's hit "The President Has AIDS" explored the virus's stigma in Haitian 
society, while "Cousins" dealt with prostitution.
There also are love stories inspired by soap operas.

Haitians can't get enough, shelling out $2.70 per ticket - about twice what 
most Haitians earn in a day - at decaying cineplexes in the capital or 
ramshackle theaters in the countryside.

A small number of Haitian films have received limited releases in U.S. 
theaters, but most people rent them in stores or buy pirated copies in a 
thriving underground market in Haitian-American communities in the United 
States.
"I like the fact that they use Haitian actors. They're very elegant in the use 
of our language," said Charles Roudo, a 53-year-old janitor at Capitol Theater 
in downtown Port-au-Prince.

But some are not so optimistic about the industry's future. Piracy robs 
filmmakers of earnings. And the Haitian Filmmakers Association is calling for 
improved professional standards, warning that bad lighting and stiff acting 
will eventually turn off moviegoers.
"Unless we start making better movies technically ... Haiti's film industry 
could die in the womb," said Antonin, who would like to see a film school open 
in Haiti to train the next generation of filmmakers. "We have the talent, we 
just needs the tools."


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