Just got back from Haiti.  By all accounts the trip was amazing.  Our last night in Jacmel was also the night of the National Carnival.  A week of anticipation and planning and in the end, what a success.  On the eve of Carnival the students, school staff, and I met for final preparations and for our official goodbye.  As we went over the 18 hour, 6 team, 4 location shooting schedule, I think we were all in awe of what we had  collectively accomplished in just one short week…

There is something about the spirit in that country that is powerful.  People were kind and generous and hard working.  The love and passion they committed to, in order to make something excellent in such difficult circumstances was inspiring.  Alix Nobert, a full time school teacher, with a wife and children at home, has long loved  to share films with his students.  He found substitute teachers to cover his classes the week I was in Jacmel so he could participate in the workshop, and bring his students back what he had learned.  Marjarie LaFleur, only 20 years old, has to earn her own living and lives alone so that she can attend film school.  All the students arrived in the early dawn hours and stayed until late at night; their level of commitment was just astounding.

I saw so many discover their talents while I was there.  Keziah, a professional violinist, discovered her gift for cinematography.  Her gracefulness and ease with a camera was stunning – it earned her the nickname “human tripod”.  Jocelyne, who had virtually no prior film experience, was by week end, producing and directing like a master.  Fritzner with his camera and Guy Marie on sound, made a tag team that even the best film crews would envy.

The characters the students chose were all people involved in carnival, from the star musicians to the cross dressing teacher to the street sweeper.  We wanted a diversity of voices to capture the spirit of the event.   Filming began on Wednesday with two sessions per day.  The first session began at 6:30 a.m., and the afternoon session around 3 p.m.  We were out to capture the best light.  It is not always easy to make a film about a place and people you know so well.  Often, the things you take for granted are the best material for a film and it can be uncomfortable for a beginning filmmaker to approach neighbors and friends for interviews.  Yet, over the course of the week the students really came into their own.  They navigated their home with a confidence and a focus that showed they were starting to see their world as storytellers.

On the day of Carnival the fifteen characters the students had chosen, 6 primary and 9 secondary, all came together.  This was when the vision of collective storytelling really came to a fore.  We needed all “hands on deck” to cover all of the action. Some followed their characters as they visited the voodoo temple, or put the finishing touches on hair and make up.  Others were up at 5:00 am to stake a spot on the official stand.  Still others were mingling in the crowds to get good b-roll. 

None had made a documentary before, some of the camera people had only been shooting for a week or so, but I tell you there is a lot of beautiful material and I am confident the film will be great.

It’s day six of the workshop. The challenge, creating a film with 20 people in one week who have never made a documentary in their lives, is working itself out.  To watch in one week what a group of dedicated students can achieve has been incredible.  Days one and two, we cast for the principle and secondary characters. We imagined scenes, got the permissions and set up a schedule.  Days 3,4 and 5 we shot 2 or 3 sessions a day.  In between we critiqued the footage and kept hammering home basic principles of documentary filmmaking.  

We began to imagine how the film might open (Sun rise Voodoo ceremony) and close (woman sweeping the streets).  The excitement is building in the town.  Tomorrow is the Carnival.  We’re going to have fantastic material for this film.

I’m off to Haiti this coming weekend to lead a documentary workshop for 16 young men and women.  The goal is to not only to teach them the skills required, but to make an actual film.  Our topic is Carnival in Jacmel.

I believe in the power of the collective and know that 16 relatively inexperienced young people who are enthusiastic, dedicated, open minded and intelligent can do in a week what one experienced filmmaker could not accomplished in a month.  So we set out to tell the story of Carnival in a country that had the only successful slave revolt in the world.  Toussaint L’Ouverture, a freed slave, guided Haiti to independence in 1805, becoming the second country in the Western Hemisphere to create its own independent nation.  Carnival in Haiti is filled with all kinds of symbolism that will emerge without doubt over the course of the production.  All of the students have begun tracking down characters to follow during the week and all were guided by my friend and fellow filmmaker, Annie Nocenti.  She sent back photos and they’re pretty amazing.

My conclusion?  My life’s trajectory continues to unfold in unexpected ways.  Angola Prison, named for slaves that were brought over from Africa.  Liberia, a nation founded by freed slaves in West Africa.  And now Haiti.  There are no accidents or coincidences in life.