While we are waiting (perhaps hopelessly, perhaps in vain) for We Love You Anne to be released, it’s worth our time to look back at I Love You Anne and one of the key elements that made that movie work, and that lent to its overall popularity. And that element is Joe Zenny Jr.,. His face was more or less familiar to some, prior to seeing I Love You Anne, but after I Love You Anne, some Haitian movie fans found themselves getting a little more curious about his music. Most fans of I Love You Anne didn’t even know he was a musician, prior to seeing I Love You Anne!

With each viewing of the film, one notices something new in his performance. He has a great sense of timing, his gestures on cue. He really pinned down the character of Jude Dutreil to a “T”. Zenny playing Jude is one of the few times in many a person’s movie watching, that the female audience would not have minded if the bad guy made off with the girl, and they rode/galloped off into the white horse through the star-filled night.

Was it his experience in acting in music videos that helped him to put on such a great performance? One can contend that, this is not the case, as all singers turned actors would be capable of putting on great theatrical performances, and we all know that this isn’t the case.

The scene that many find rather riotous is the one in which he (Zenny as Jude Dutreil) is having that showdown with Beatrice Thales. He has a position to be filled at Judet Tours, his travel agency, and, well, in a country where jobs are far and few (or so we suppose), he wants her to do a little something extra, extra to get the position. She’s not that type of girl, thank you very much. But he’s that type of guy, oh mercy! A heated verbal argument ensues. The job offer is rescinded. Ms. Beatrice Thales gathers her dignity and storms off. The police inspector and friend of Jude Dutreil, Wesley Lisquet (Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine), walks in, asking why the girl left in such a huff. Jude affirms that the girl did not want to, er, put out, and had the audacity to want a job.

Zenny is never so charming as when he is having that office exchange with Ms. Thales. And how handsome he looks when he’s sitting in Bicha’s living room, trying to coax Anne into forgetting Don Kato, and getting into the Jude Dutreil lover chariot.

So, post-I Love You Anne, Zenny has starred in another franchise, Oasis and afterwards Hiatus, the two Francette Agnant films. Watching Oasis in its entirety and studying in the movie causes one to come to the conclusion that his performance in I Love You Anne was not a fluke. He isn’t an accidental actor.

What should his next move be? He’s certainly has done the franchise thing. Hey, two franchises: the I Love You Anne franchise, and the Oasis franchise. We would not recommend that he play a serial killer or anything, but perhaps he should try to do something different, so as to not be static. A period movie would be too expensive to make, but perhaps he should be entertaining other offers from Africa (as Jimmy Jean-Louis has done), or see about working with a Caribbean director of caliber, perhaps Christian Lara, Raoul Peck, or the ever talented Euzhan Palcy. Making another Haitian movie is not out of the question, but it must be something of quality, that will take his career forward, and judging from how selective he’s been regarding his roles post-I Love You Anne, it’s safe to say that he realizes the importance his selection of roles signifies for his career, and that each project he undertakes must take his acting career to the next level, or else it’s in vain.

Hiatus (Oasis II), Zenny’s last movie was released more than three years so Zenny definitely needs to keep the momentum going on his acting career. He certainly has the thespian chops. He should put them to more extensive use.

When Wilkenson Bruna’s movie Le Vent du Désir was released in the early 2000s (2002).

The movie introduced Bernadette Chitolie, Genji Jacques, Metsuka Nicholas, Stephanie Henriquez, among a host of other actors.

Wonder where they are now, and what they’re doing? Some of you have emailed us, asking us to investigate. We have asked around, and this is the little report that we came up with.

BERNADETTE CHITOLIE: As the evil doctor from the depths of Hades Florence Casimir, Chitolie played the psychotic bad girl to the hilt, tormenting Nadine Laplante, played by Stephanie Henriquez. Privately though, Henriquez and Chitolie were very good friends. Since her appearance in Wind of Desire, Ms. Chitolie has been notably absent from the big screen. Some are surprised to learn that off-screen Chitolie is very well-spoken. She should be. She’s a graduate of the University of Miami, and teaches language arts at a Miami high school. Fans await an explosive comeback.

GENJI JACQUES: This actor played Gary Jean-Pierre, Richard Lazard’s voice of reason in Wind of Desire. The movie catapulted Genji Jacques to hunk stardom upon its release. The former University of South Florida student now works at a pharmaceutical company in Florida. He still has movies boiling in his blood, however. Since Wind of Desire, he has starred in the movies Hard Times, and Mary Jane. He has formed Mack-Jack Vision Productions and the inspirational entertainment company Godz Sun Productions, and has written several gospel plays.

KALIAH EUBANKS: One of the few non-Haitian members of the movie’s cast, Kaliah Eubanks makes her home in Florida. She keeps a low-profile.

RUDOLPH MOISE: Rudolph Moise raised up his profile quite a lot with this movie. Already a University of Miami law graduate, most astute observers guessed that his appearance as the lead actor in the movie was a great and clever strategy to raise his visibility in the Haitian Community. Their hunch was correct. Moise, who owns and oversees a health clinic in Florida, ran for Congressman in District 17 under the Democratic ticket in 2010. Three years earlier, he had starred in the straight-to-DVD feature Haitian Nights, alongside African-American actress Kenya Moore.

STEPHANIE HENRIQUEZ: The NY-born, Europe-educated young miss, played Nadine Laplante in Wind of Desire, the real love interest of attorney Richard Lazard, who discovers that her soon-to-be-husband has been dilly-dallying behind her back with the psychotic Florence. Following Wind of Desire, every director wanted to work with Stephanie. Henriquez was also high in demand as a TV host, and hosted a music video show at one point.

WILKENSON BRUNA: After Wind of Desire, the writer-director went into producing, helping director Richard Senecal with producing duties with the movie Cousines. There were rumors that a Wind of Desire sequel was in the works, but nothing ever came of it. Bruna also started a distribution leg of his production company Will Brothers Entertainment, and oversaw the world distribution of Catherine Hubert’s film La Face de L’Ombre. Reports have surfaced that Wilkenson was going into the hospitality business in Haiti, but whether Bruna intends to overwhelm the world with another cinematic production, remains to be seen.

Around here in these parts, we just love social commentary. And when social commentary is somehow embedded in a movie, so much the better. So, when we came across the trailer for the Jean-Claude Fayolle movie Pataswèl (best translation we could think of for the movie’s title: Pimp slapped), we were so excited.

The movie’s trailer was enticing enough: a 60ish (or perhaps even 70ish) man, living in Montreal, Canada gets himself a 40-something wife. If you’ve read Michel S. Laguerre’s book American Odyssey, which is a social study of Haitians living in New York in the 1970s-1980s era, you probably have had a preview of this sort of social dynamic. Haitians living abroad, especially Haitian men, see a photo of a particularly attractive relative of a neighbor, or a friend, then they get hit by the Caribbean love cupid, and have to go to Haiti to marry. Usually the swept-over-her-feet bride is usually a stunning woman, who, if it had not been for the groom’s overseas-living status, would never have fathomed being with the groom. Money, or the illusion of money, and status, changes everything.

Filémon Marc Antoine—played by the quite capable actor Numa Innocent—is such a groom. A long-time resident of Montreal, he marries Mireille (Maggie Volant). Apparently, Mireille just wanted to move out from the Haiti’s sun and do a quick exchange for life in Montreal. Why else would she marry a man who’s nearly twice her age (or at least looks it), and a man who she feels is her intellectual and social inferior? But her obvious contempt for Filémon makes a turn for the worst, and transforms to abuse.

A long-time female friend of Filémon’s (Yanick Dutelly) tries to mold some sense into Filémon (perhaps she’s silently been burning for his love), but he’s too smitten with Mireille to be reasoned with. Meanwhile, Mireille’s equally pretentious friends are pressuring her from all corners and egging on her deplorable actions. Not surprisingly, Mireille is repulsed by the hefty, hippopotamus-like Filémon, and has a side thing going on with the notorious neighborhood daddy mack/mack daddy Brando (Marlon Charles), but he’s got a surprise of his own for her.

Fayolle is the director of the well-celebrated Ti Lòm a L’etranger (alternative title: Ti Lòm aletranje), a movie that explores the assimilation of an illiterate Haitian immigrant in Montréal, and that is recognized by some as the first known full-length feature film made by a Haitian out of Canada, so he is certainly venturing into familiar territory with this film. The movie leaves a lot to be desired in some areas, especially in terms of cinematography. But the acting is convincing (Fayolle himself has a long history in the theatre in Canada), and the subject matter very well handled. The music by Marco L. Volcy gives the movie a certain atmosphere and the script, which Fayolle co-wrote with Naika Pigniat is very astute, and literate.

The last Moise Kharmeliaud movie that I saw was so terrible, so horrendous, that I, one of the most patient, let-me-give-them-the-benefit-of-a-doubt movie fans hit the stop button within 12 minutes. Not satisfied with doing just that, I subsequently hit the EJECT button to get that monstrosity out of my DVD player. The movie was called Le Onzième Commandment (The 11th Commandment), and let me tell you, calling it a bomb (not the bomb, but a bomb), would be well a compliment.

So glad, though, that Mr. Moise is staying away from action fare, and decided to direct a simple little story with the film Les Aventures de Boss Djo

It’s a nice little movie. Heavy on simplicity. The acting is surprisingly not sub par. Guyto Beauduy, who we previously saw on the screen as part of the Demele trio, plays Boss Djo (government name: Joseph Bossilas), an unemployed, married father of three (played smartly by a little band of junior actors Stefica Lafaille, Eli Beauduy, and Glymy Beauduy), who handles life’s hurdles with a dimpled smile and humor. Beauduy has great comedic timing, and knows what it takes to steal a scene. Mirlande Edouard is very effective in her brief appearances on the screen as Beauduy’s screen wife.

The movie is episodic at times, but the story solid. Boss Djo, the protagonist is such a simpleton that he doesn’t realize that the neighbors next door Kenol and Beatrice (Wheeler J. Mackens and Danielle Jacques) have diabolical designs on him. As he battles everything and everyone from his landlord (Ashley Jean-Baptiste) to a drug-dealing denizen , to a voodoo priest (Leon Fanel), to a deportee head of a kidnapping cartel (Wislet Pierre-Louis) and babysits a ditzy, and neurotic 60ish socialite (Ultide Morriset), hilarity ensues.

Kharmeliaud’s Moise has grown more skillful with the camera since his last movie, varying shots and angles. He’s joined by a collaborator who’s billed simply as J. Boy. Other collaborators include Stéphane Baptiste, who did a rather decent job handling the sound, and Laurent Lamy, who took charge of the movie’s lighting. “Kite la Vi Roule”, the movie’s theme sung by folk singer Berthony Pierre-Louis really lends some authenticity and charm to the movie.

Les Adventures de Boss Djo is about how perseverance and faith can triumph over all human misfortunes. If you don’t get at least one genuine laugh, out of the movie, see your local neurosurgeon.

Am I going to be a senior citizen by the time We Love You Anne is released? The trailer was placed on YouTube nearly three years ago, and still no movie.

What exactly is the hold-up? Are the producers waiting for the right time to release it? Because there’s no better time than right now!
Perhaps they are intimidated by the fact that the economy-devastating January 2010 Haiti earthquake is going to affect box office receipts? Or perhaps they are brooding on the reputed destruction of Haiti’s still-functioning theaters and are wondering where they will have screenings? No problem. There’s still hotel auditoriums and halls, no? I Love You Anne made a lot of money, and we can surmise that a great deal of the movie’s revenues came from DVD sales in the United States. So the movie theater system is Haiti is on the decline, so why not do a straight-to-DVD release and have a few extras on the DVD to entice movie fans to buy the original product?

Movie fans outside of Haiti are the ones who bring in the most revenue for Haitian movies, anyway. Sheesh!

There is so much anticipation from Haitian movie fans, counting my grandmother! During the 2007-2010 years, a lot of Haitian movie lovers were gravitating towards Nigerian and Ghanaian movies, but that phase has died down considerably. The African movie/Nollywood/Gollywood overkill backfired on video store owners. Do you see the rows and rows of unsold movies in their stores?

Now, movie fans are ravenous for homegrown entertainment. There is so much rubbish [said ironically, in my best African movie voice] on the Haitian movie market right now, majority of which is produced by former communion and wedding videographers, you can be assured.

“Quality entertainment, quality entertainment”, is the cry from movie fans. Maybe the powers that be behind We Love You Anne will hear their agony and their cries and release the darn movie! Like, stat.

In the meantime, feel free to watch the trailer below:

Richard J. Arens is not too bad of a director. To my knowledge, he has helmed three movies thus far: Alelouya (which I thought was hilarious), and My Name Is (which I thought was monstrous), and of course Show Kola. It seems that following Show Kola Arens has gone to make Haiti Cherie: Wind of Hope. The trailer for that movie, doesn’t exactly look enticing.

Show Kola, his second released film, on the other hand, definitely deserves a look. It’s one of few ensemble cast Haitian movies that I’ve seen where one doesn’t lose sight of the characters, as the movie progresses. The movie’s 87 minutes or so, are divided (perhaps not too equally) between four friends: Kerby, Theo, Bob, and Donkey Mix.

Bob is a university psychology major with mommy issues. His mother abandoned the family some years ago, leaving his father in a catatonic state, and Bob himself in a permanent woman-hating mode. He’s romancing Barbara, his father’s goddaughter half-heartedly, but his eyes are elsewhere, roaming, and seeking some unsuspected females to devour.

Arens assembled some of the Haitian movie industry’s best young talents, and up-and-coming talents. In terms of established talent, Georges-Henri Beauvoir—who we have not seen since he starred as François in La Peur D’Aimer —is Kerby (actually he appeared for like 5 seconds in La Rebelle in the birthday party scene). Kerby is so bent on impressing the neighborhood useless pretty girl Christelle, that he misses the lovey-dovey stares and intentions of the long suffering Ingride.

Paul-Henry Athis—who made an impressive debut in La Face de L’Ombre, and went on to star in Les Couleurs de la Dignité— is Théo, the jealous boyfriend to Lourdes-Milla, played by the brilliant Nathalie Ambroise (of La Rebelle fame). Handy Tibert, who is one of the best young actors in the Haitian film industry (Barikad, La Victime), gave a credible performance as Donkey Mix, a deejay (the movie’s title is actually taken from the character’s radio show) who is in love with his boss Supplice (Marie-Yolène Félisma), but can’t bring himself to face the intimidating career woman.

Newcomers Rachéle Abraham (Christelle), and Francila Saintilus (Ingride), Marjorie François (Barbara) round off the well-put together cast. There were others too who appeared, however briefly, but who still made an impression Fritz-Gérald Emmy (as the perverted rapper Jay-C), Aristène Posnel (as the chain-smoking Djomeka), and Maxime Moise, as the man whose estrangement from his wife has led him to an overall mental and physical decline. The director himself has a cameo in the movie, as a disabled radio personality, and Hughette F. St Fleur and Schudson Boursiquot have some marginal roles, while Reginald Lubin appears as himself. At one point, there was a trailer of the movie with the actress (J)Gessica Geneus playing one of the leads, but she must not have made the final cut, or perhaps dropped out of the movie.

Oh, well. On with the movie.

The couples, or potential couples all somehow manage to quarrel prior to Valentine’s Day. But in true romantic comedy fashion, all is mended in time for love to triumph. It was quite ridiculous for Arens to give Ambroise the same lines that she had in La Rebelle as the rebellious Lorraine Dubois (“Je te signalle que c’est mon anniversaire.”). Did he think that we wouldn’t notice? Is there a shortage in dialogue land?
Overall though, with Show Kola, it’s obvious that Arens was trying to do something different, in terms of story, in terms of experimenting with structure and style, and in those aspects, he certainly succeeded. The plot could have been stronger, but most of the resolutions had meat on them.

Some folks aren’t too crazy over Haitian movies made in Canada. Me? I actually find some of them likeable…like Wilfort Estimable’s Gason Makoklen trilogy. Initially, I bought the first two for my grandmother, but once I actually sat down and watched them with her, I actually found it to be quite interesting. The thing about watching these Haitian movies made in Canada, is that you get to view what life is like for the Haitian immigrants in non-US communities.

Apparently, Canadian-Haitians are more upwardly mobile than Haitians living in France, if they have a bubbling little movie industry there…mostly thanks to Jean-Claude Fayolle, Jean-Rony Lubin, Jean-Alix Homand, and of course Estimable himself. And apparently, the problems that the Haitian community is facing in Montreal, are not unlike the ones that are being endured say, in Brooklyn, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Patterson, and so on.

The Gason Makoklen film series begins with Mercidieu Lebrun (Peterson Mead), a tacky and despicable taxi driver who lives in Montreal, who pretty much thinks that a woman’s place is in the kitchen and that she can wonder around in the bedroom too, but only for the pleasure of her husband. His wife Jésula (Benita Jacques) is still in Haiti, though her documents are in route to have her come join him. In the meantime however, he tries to recruit a lover-lackey. But the candidates are far from fulfilling the doormat/pushover interim partner that Mercidieu is seeking, so Mercidieu resigns himself to waiting on Canadian immigration red tape.

Then deliverance comes…Jésula is finally granted documents to enter Montreal. Jésula is slightly disillusioned by what she sees. So that luxury car that her husband was leaning on in a photo that he had once sent back home, was merely a prop…and never belonged to him? Sidenote: How the Diaspora enjoys selling the overseas dream to their relatives back in Haiti, misleading them into believing that life is so grand in the United States of America and Canada, and that everyone is hopelessly wealthy and balling.

For a while, Jésula is the homebody, doormat of a wife. Mercidieu has carefully orchestrated things so that Jésula doesn’t communicate with the outside world. There’s no landline phone, no cell phone, heck no sign of modernity in the house, and, therefore as Mercidieu wishes it, no intellectual light coming in to influence his wife. Under the tutelage of Andreanne (1-800-Andreanne) , a neighbor in the same apartment complex, Jésula becomes more assertive in her relationship with husband Mercidieu, making the latter’s worst case scenarios come true. No more daily, freshly-cooked meals, no more field hand slave dressing habits…hah, the Jésula of times past gone. Poof! Andreanne (Myriame Jean) represents the hard-boiled feminist. She takes no crap from her husband Ti Wil (Wilfort Estimable) and coaches Jésula to do the same.

What can one say about the cast? Let’s start with Myriame Jean, who, throughout the trilogy, proves herself to be quite an adept comedienne. Jean’s Andreanne is sassy-mouthed, tenacious, and would have been perfect on a panel of Third World feminists at a Ms. Magazine seminar. Estimable is also the film’s director, so thank goodness he chose to play the secondary character Ti Wil, as opposed to Mercidieu, the lead male character. It’s rarely effective when a director chooses to carry many hats. In this case, we would have missed of the actor who plays Mercidieu. His acting is very consistent, not to mention credible. Benita Jacques, another gem in the rough, is a joy to watch, as she transforms from the naïve little hermit wife to a skin-baring, weave-sporting, fashion-obsessed, take-no-mess hot mama.

Gason Makoklen 2 and Gason Makoklen 3 continues the entire saga of the battle of the sexes. But who will win? Or are there no winners? Haitian women have been taken for granted for quite some time. They’ve been stepped on so much, the corns have spread to their ankles. Abused, cheated on, neglected, demoralized, degraded, and grossly taken for granted. But is anarchy in the home the answer? One of the things that the movie preaches is how important it is for both genders to compromise. Perhaps that’s the only solution.

If you haven’t seen The Agronomist—-Jonathan Demme’s documentary about Jean-Léopold Dominique, the trailblazing Haitian journalist—you really should allocate about 90 minutes of whatever time you have left in your life span to do so.

The helmer of Radio Haiti-Inter died at the age 69 in 2000 from (an) assassin(s) bullets (along with his caretaker Jean-Claude Louissaint), but thankfully Demme already had plenty of footage of the journalist, captured over the years, during two exiles that he and his wife Michèle Montas spent in New York, and pieced them together to create what has got to be one of the most compelling documentaries about Haiti. Ever.

This documentary is interesting from so many angles. There’s the freedom of speech angle. Although born into an intellectual family, and one of the most elite families in the island nation, Dominique’s heart was always with the people. Many people were puzzled that Demme chose to title his documentary The Agronomist and not The Journalist (after all, that’s the profession that brought him fame), but Dominique clarifies this at one point during one of his many sit-down interviews with Demme. He is really a farmer at heart, a lover of the land, who became a journalist, a spokesperson for the poor—out of necessity—because there was no one else to speak for them. From the time Dominique’s father would take him to tour the outskirts of Haiti, and make the rounds of farming lots, the love for the earth was apparent in him. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dominique stood up for Haiti’s farmers, whose rice harvest was being forcibly divided with corrupt countryside chiefs. This was top news on Dominique’s radio broadcasts on Radio Haiti-Inter, which he had by now, purchased from the original owner.

One cannot talk about the Jean-Léopold Dominique experience without mentioning Michèle Montas. It’s no wonder the two joined forces to create one of the most admired journalistic teams in Haiti. Behind every great man, there’s a spectacular woman, and Michèle Montas was that person in Dominique’s life. She had no typical childhood, at least not “typical”, in the sense of what we “typically” think we know about people’s lives in Haiti. At one point, nearly her whole family was wiped out, prompting an early exile to Maine, where she finished high school. Her move to Maine, brings us to another angle, the immigration and social class angle. Montas had a privileged childhood indeed. She actually became a homecoming queen pre-Civil Rights in the United States of America. Yeah, you read right, a little Haitian girl became homecoming queen at a probably predominantly white senior high school. Granted, it was in Maine, not in Deep South Mississippi or anything, but that part of the documentary really caught my attention…that waay back in the early 1960s, some scrawny little Haitian girl was voted homecoming queen at an American school. Didn’t she think the odds were against her? Or because she was not accustomed to color discrimination in her home country, she went in, fully confident, and that confident won those voters over. Her brother, Montas said in the documentary, was already living in Maine, which of course just confirmed what I’ve read in books about Haitian immigration…first the exodus started with the middle class (who’ve always sent their sons and daughters overseas to get educated, anyway), and then came the boat people (their drowning and mistreatment and repatriation is also well-documented in the documentary). This aspect of the documentary took my mind back to this letter that was being auctioned on Ebay once. It was a letter from a Haitian student in 1927 who was attending some prestigious U.S. university, that he sent to his father in Haiti. Nothing new under the sun, as the maxim goes. Montas, is the woman behind the man, indeed. A graduate of Columbia University’s journalism school, she is equally as intriguing as her husband, and with good reason, is a chunky part of this fascinating documentary.

One cannot help but be taken with the use of throwback, sepia and black and white photos and paintings and how they were blended to lend to the narrative power of the documentary (Demme is a renowned Haitian art collector). In the last few minutes of the documentary, one feels as if one knew Jean-Léopold Dominique personally. He was quite a personality, one can surmise. The sniffing of the air, the mariner’s caps, the trademark pipe, the journalist mannerisms, and the boldness, his intrepid laughter, his uncanny sense of humor, his audacity when it came to outing the truth. How can a man whose life was threatened so many times, have insisted on continuing to speak so boldly? He seems to have had the premonition that he would be killed eventually (he had already told his wife that that he wanted his ashes to be spread in a river).

If you’re hoping to learn more about Dominique, or to gain a more in-depth perspective about Demme’s love for Haiti, don’t look to the DVD. One was expecting some extras on the DVD, but perhaps Demme felt that all that could have been said was already said by Dominique. The art on the cover, with Dominique having his two fingers in the air, looks odd. If one were an Illuminati theorist, one would say that Dominique’s fingers look like the pagan god Batshuphet. The photo used on the DVD is actually photo taken of Dominique in 1986, upon his return from a nearly 6-year exile. That scene is telling. People have gathered at Haiti’s airport, friends, fans, fellow journalists, curious onlookers, and perhaps future foes. “Dominique! Dominique!” they start to chant. But he reverts the chant away from himself, shouting “Haiti, Haiti”, and the whole crowd joins with him.

Demme recruited Wyclef to do the score for the documentary (“Yo di-m drug dealer Ayiti/Se Mercedes Jeep yape kondi…I heard that all the drug dealers in Haiti are rolling their 4×4 Mercedes…”), and also interviewed Aboudja, a colleague, Dominique’s sisters, daughter, Montas herself, as well as Rassoul Labuchin and Arnold Antonin, two men who were members of Dominique’s cinema club in the 70s. It could have easily been Demme’s show, after all, he is one of the most acclaimed cinema directors of our time. But he made sure that there was one star throughout, and that was Jean-Léopold Dominique.

You cannot kill the truth with a bullet, is the documentary’s tagline. But apparently they killed a man with one.

For some, his movie Pluie D’Espoir is by far, one of the best movies to have come out of Haiti, but director-screenwriter-producer Jacques Roc continues to pound the pavement, looking for new ways to depict Haiti on the screen, albeit in a positive manner. Roc was recently an honoree at the Motion Picture Association of Haiti’s first edition of the Haitian Movie Awards in Boston for being a model of excellence in his field.

Many know about his movie, which was screened at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival some years back—and more recently at the Dominican Republic Global Film Festival—but very few know the man behind the camera, or that he was a musician first and foremost, the way Jean-Léopold Dominique was an agronomist before he became a journalist. Currently in Haiti, juggling different projects, including his sitcom series and his screenplays, Mr. Roc was kind enough to respond to our request for an interview.

Now you started out as a commercial director.
I was a music director for Roy Eaton Music, writing and producing jingles. Was fascinated by the cinema industry since I was eleven years old. Had my first dark room at the age of twelve and developed black and white pictures for all my friends at school. I also did my first Super 8 movie when I was fourteen. It was probably what started the motion. Then of course, music took over and I became this guitar player in a band named Les As Noirs. Later on in New York, I was teaching Dadou Pasquet [a famed musician in the legendary Haitian band Magnum Band] how to play great guitar. He certainly did very well. As a music director in New York, I had the opportunity to create great track for the commercials being shot by professionals. I went to NYU and started my film career.

Do you have a background in theater?
Yes. Somewhat. Studied Berthol Bretch and Samuel Becket. Enjoyed his “Waiting for Godot”. And worked some time ago with the Troupe Quidor…Syto Cavé [Alan Cavé’s theatre veteran dad] and Hervé Denis [late pioneer in Haitian theater]. Wrote a couple plays, but it didn’t go further than that.

Nearly all the actors in your film were first-timers. How did you manage to get such great performances out of them?
Working in Haiti taught me a lot about the Haitian inner talent. They only need a good director. I have found out that it was much easier if they didn’t have previous acting [experience]. Love to make actors out of them. But I did find some good ones, like Lionel Benjamin and Claudine Oriol. Sandra Rabrun did a radio spot with me and showed that she could act.

The international media has reported that you were involved in directing a series based on the lives of the 2010 earthquake survivors.
After the earthquake, having missed death four times, I thought my place was in Haiti to bring relief in some form to the displaced people in the camps. Therefore, we started doing free outdoor projections in the camps. Later on came the idea, with the support of MINUSTAH [an international peace-keeping task force stationed in Haiti], to create a sitcom of a family living in the tent city, as a vehicle to disseminate public information and civic educative films. We went along and produced 20 public service announcements, one on domestic violence, drugs, illegal use of guns, kidnapping etc. We had played that one [the one for domestic violence] for mother’s day as a gift to all women who do not deserve to be violated.

Now as someone who is accustomed to directing splashy commercials and music videos, why did you choose to have such a simple story as the subject for your first feature film?
The simple story as you call it…is quite the fundamentals of our culture. I was always very impressed by the quality of life in the countryside and the moral of the peasants. I had many friends in Chalon when I was gowning up in Miragoane during the summer months. Writing the story was a tribute to their type of moral values and great mentality. Their kindness at all times and their coffee making and offering: “Vwazen wa-p pran ti kafe a?” It was always with a smile!

Everyone is excited about your next project. Or should we say projects. Can you tell us about them?
The very first thing I want to say to you regarding the next projects is the following: Not until everyone has seen the final version of Pluie d’Espoir will our other projects start. The scripts are written and as I said the productions will start after the release of the final version of Pluie d’Espoir. Next year for sure. We have many projects: Children Without a God. Prisoner of Ti Goave and Emilia. You will be hearing about them soon. We also are doing other project to help educate the Haitian population by creating and producing our own TV show for our giant 12 x16 foot screens via our broadcast division Telemobil. It’s called Lekomobil. We will be using this show to teach kids Alphabet like “Sesame Street” did.

Tell us about Jacques Roc the man.
I grew up in Carrefour Feuilles and spent my summer vacations in the little town of three major streets of Miragoane. I admire perfection and jazz music and true love. I love too deeply and get hurt too often. [So] I became passionate about perfection and my work.

My first mentor was Lionel Derenoncourt, nicknamed Nono, who taught me photography when I was twelve. [I want] to leave a legacy of better communicative tools to all the children of Haiti. Teach as many as we can how to read and be heard.

What kind of childhood did Jacques Roc have?
A somewhat terrible childhood—until I discovered music. How to play the guitar. It became my soul mate. My Dad disappeared when I was six, under the regime of the Duvaliers. My mom had a hard time raising six children. But being in a musical band saved my life.

What do you hope to accomplish through your movies?
Send as much messages as I can, when I can have an audience looking and listening; well, if you don’t do that, you waste all your effort. Our role as filmmakers is to create hope and through fantasy we can accomplish that and much more. Hope drives the mind to become stronger and to not only survive but to struggle to the end of the tunnel. Pluie d’Espoir was meant to show the millions of Haitian youngsters that all they needed was hope and confidence to make it in this tough world.

You worked with these actors in Pluie d’Espoir. What are your thoughts on their performances and their futures?
Junior Metellus turned out to be an excellent actor with versatility and brought my ideas to life. Working with him was challenging but worth it. He also had to get into the characters at random since the scenes were shot in that manner. Sandra Rabrun I knew she had talent and would be pleasant to work with since she had already done a radio spot for me for the NY City Department of Health. Lionel Benjamin was the first known Haitian actor I worked with in a couple of TV commercials I had shot in Haiti for Nissan. I though he was very talented as an actor.

Claudine Oriol was coached by the same teacher who taught Denzel Washington and came from LA with lots of credentials. She was great. Powerful. Christian Sajous? As an old friend of mine, since we were 12 years, Jean Christian Sajous was the lead actor in my first Super 8 silent film I did when I was 16 in New York. Of course he was a natural from day one.

Now the actress Ginou Mondesir, the female co-lead died tragically, beaten to death by a significant other. Are you planning on writing a movie or a documentary on domestic violence?
I have already. And will do more on different angles of this issue. We need to teach a lot of Haitian men how to treat women with respect.

We’ve read that after the actress’s death, you took the responsibility for the education of her surviving son.
Somewhat. We committed a percentage of the profits of the movie to his education.

Why do you think Pluie d’Espoir was such a success?
It dealt with a lot of taboos and how reality should be. The only time we show superiority was when we referred to intelligence as Toussaint becoming educated. A man shouldn’t run off and disregard the true essence of love. Toussaint never cheating on his wife made a lot of sense to most women, since they are usually more faithful than men.

The burning question that everyone has for you is this: when will Pluie d’Espoir be released on DVD? And what can we expect after having to wait for it for so long?
I must thank you for asking. It’s people like you that keep my spirit up! Pluie d’Espoir was pirated so be it! But now, we are going to release it on DVD and with a limited edition signed and numbered. With a beautiful book of pictures from the entire production shoot.

You also do your own casting for your movies. How do you decide the suitability of an actor or actress for a role?
Casting is something I enjoy doing because it takes me to the culture of understanding what the actor I have created in my vision should look like. When I meet the potential actor, I can sense his talent even before the audition. That is the basis of my (how to choose my talent). It may take me more time to find one lead actor. Like in Pluie d’Espoir, it took me six months to find Junior Metellus. The others did not take us as long.

Do you ever get the urge to direct music videos again?
Of course and I will. I just wouldn’t be interested in cheap HD musical video productions. Nothing beats filmmaking and real film. Super 16, 35 and Super 35. Negative transfer is where the essence of music video is.

Some critics have accused you of having an unrealistic plot in Pluie D’espoir. What are your thoughts on that?
Ah ahahah! People or critics shouldn’t even be criticizing because they don’t know what the real deal is. Critics write their criticism according to their own experience and never criticize the white man when he makes a car climb the Empire State Building or land a chopper on top of a tall building without a landing pad.

They tend to forget the real reality of the many Haitians who have left the country in the 60’s and never to return until ten, fifteen years later. Toussaint was a real character I knew when I was twelve years old and because of my clever guitar playing I was welcomed in all of his many Sandwich shops to eat for free. He made fortune within three years and left for the USA.

Many Haitians made fortunes in the country in a short period of time and to this day history is repeating itself. The critics shouldn’t stay biased and limited to their own conditions without looking around and deeply into the nouveau rich…how they made their money. In the US, stores hire salesmen to move their business, but in Haiti, people just sell to retailers without having salesmen to pay. Think about that. By the way this part that the critics didn’t quite get…they would easily [see it] if they had seen the final version of the movie, because one scene explains it. Or more like Philippe the entrepreneur explains to Toussaint how to make the money. If I were a critic, I would wait to have read the entire book before I write about it.

What Haitian actors and actresses do you hope to work with in the future?
Stanley Mathéus, Gessica Généus, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Benz Antoine and Elizabeth Alphonse who has played in my sitcom “Anba Syèl La”. By the way the new season of the sitcom starts soon.

Does Haitian cinema have a future?
I certainly believe that but contrary to what Mr. Arnold Antonin [fellow Haitian movie director] thinks: “Haitians can never make film like Hollywood”. I disagree because, yes we can. It’s not [about]how many special effects [scenes] in our films, we are creating science fictions, if we go back in time in the thirties…some black and white movies were outstanding. We can make movies just like Hollywood.