Singer Emeline Michel performed at Carifesta. Well, well, well.

Photographer Verdy Verna captured Michel during her performance at Carifesta.

Now, to the subject of fashion! Emeline wore her hair in braids, and wore minimal makeup…some green eyeshadow, and bangles for the arm.

That’s some dress, that this Emeline Michel’s got on! The dress practically blends African and Caribbean influences, with its multi-colored roses. And look at that collar. Don’t think I’ve seen anything like it. It’s rather more elaborate than most. The fabric is nothing short of gorgeous. It looks pretty silky. Well, Ms. Emeline Michel, you sure showed them at Carifesta, didn’t you?

In a past interview she did with me, she revealed that she styles herself most of the time, so is it safe to say that she put this outfit together?

Emeline Michel’s last album was entitled Quintessence. And looking at her in these photos, you could say that she’s quintessence of style and uniqueness.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT EMELINE MICHEL

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE POSTS ABOUT CARIFESTA

Check out Woodson Michel’s music video for his single “That Girl”. I had an interview with this artist some time ago, and it’s great to see that he has new material out. Not to mention that he’s expanding his brand as an artist. ​Some of his songs have been featured on the TV show “CSI” and in the upcoming film My Hometown and The Set-Up, which he produced and starred in.

Now to his music video!

“That Girl” was written and produced by the artist himself. Now, let’s take a look at the video…scene by scene…

Oh, some special effects.

Ooh, a rocky beach.

Oh, finally…the video has barely started and the male lead already looks so downcast.

Ah, on the steps of a townhouse.

On a bridge…no other structure says contemplation and pondering and reflection like a bridge…admit it!

A little stepping…

A little view of his kicks….

A little gesturing never hurt nobody.

Another dream sequence with the ideal girl.

Oh, nature!

A new view…

That Girl…That Girl…

That girl…

Some sharp heels we got here.

Look at that pleading face!

Oh goody, a new outfit!

That Girl—whoever you are…come out of his dreams, and into his reality…please!

All that singing, and dancing, and pleading, and he ended up all alone. [*insert sad face*]

FOLLOW THE ARTIST ON INSTAGRAM | THE ARTIST ON FACEBOOK

Senator John Kerry made a two-hour stop in Haiti yesterday. Here he is walking alongside Haiti’s prez Michel Martelly.

Here he is being escorted in Port-au-Prince.

Ooh, they went into the conference room.

Haiti’s prez is seen here along with other officials, chatting with Kerry.

Here they are again.

Last year, Kerry had met with Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe in Washington, DC.

[Photo Credit: D. Chery, Demotix, and AP]

Not too long ago, Haiti’s prez had made a visit to New York. CLICK HERE if you missed it.

Moise J. Michel published his children’s illustrated book Kwame and His Great Adventures: Kwame Meets Jackie Robinson earlier this summer. He’s by no means strictly a children’s author. Years ago, he penned and published Diamond in the Rough: Trials and Tribulations of a Southern Belle. Get to know him and his books and get some insight into his journey as a writer and author.

Kreyolicious: How did your love for writing begin?
My love for writing came while I was in a very dark place in my life. My inspiration for writing my book came from my kids. I was unfortunately incarcerated when I wrote it. I wrote a chapter every night. The next morning, I would have a older gentleman on my cell block read what I wrote the night before. Nights I didn’t write, he would chastise me for not doing so.

Kreyolicious: What led to the writing of your book?
I wrote this book back in 2008, upon my release in 2010 I had a very select few of family & friends read it. They all urged me to go ahead and publish it. I went the self publishing route with Createspace, which is a company under Amazon.

Kreyolicious: It’s one thing to want to write a book. It’s another to finish it and to take it to publication. What was the process like for you?

Kreyolicious: Any advice for aspiring authors based on your experience?
I advise all up-and-coming authors that they take their pain and use it to create magic through the power of words. They [should] also know if they intend to make this a livelihood that they [must] look at it in long-term instead of short-term. Another piece of advise is to never stop writing!

Kreyolicious: Do you visit Haiti often? How do you stay connected with the culture?
I haven’t visited Haiti as much as I would like since I left there as an adolescent child, but I was last there in 2015. The culture is forever embedded in me, so I will never be disconnected from the culture. I stay connected by cooking our delicious cuisines, speaking our native tongue and by proudly explaining our history and culture to other folks who aren’t Haitian.

Kreyolicious: What will you do differently with your next book?
My second book has just been published a few weeks back. This book is a children’s series book titled Kwame and His Great Adventures: Kwame meets Jackie Robinson, which I hope to turn into a cartoon series within the next few years. My intentions is to teach black kids of all cultures about black historical figures that they may not know or been taught about in school or home

CLICK HERE to visit the author’s website!

CLICK HERE to purchase Kwame and His Great Adventures from Amazon!

Jimmy Hendrix chose the guitar. Guy Michel chose the cello. The South Florida-based musician showed off his skills by playing the instrument on “Alo”, a Creole rendition of Adele’s “Hello” by the singer-songwriter Saskya Sky. He has performed for audiences in Haiti, Nicaragua and Ireland.

As the one-half of the cello-DJ duo GMNI Guy has performed at the food festival Taste of Haiti festival, Diner En Blanc the West Palm Beach edition as well at the Soho Beach House in Miami, among other events.

He’s released Rebirth, an EP of covers of songs by Akon, Sia, Marisi, Aerosmith and others.

The Port-Au-Prince-born musician started playing the instrument at the age of five. What led to his attachment to the instrument? Read on to find out.

Kreyolicious: Why the cello of all instruments?
I wanted to be different. I like the warm and sometimes dark sound of the cello.

Kreyolicious: And who taught you?
A teacher named Dickens Princivil in Haiti

Kreyolicious: Do you imagine yourself doing an album eventually?
I’m currently working on my first original solo album.

Kreyolicious: Which artists do you most admire?
Yoyo Ma, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, etc. There are a lot more, but these people were not afraid to be unique.

Photo Credit: WFR Photo/JJ Jansen V Vuuen

Kreyolicious: I’m not surprised that MJ is on this list. You covered “Human Nature”, one of his classics…When another artist comes forward and asks you to collaborate on a record, what is your approach usually?
I look at their personality, ambition, [their] willingness to try something new, and so on.

Kreyolicious: Speaking of which, you teamed up with Saskya Sky for her Creole edition of Adele’s Hello. Tell us about that.
She approached me and told me she had an idea to do something that’s never been done with me with Adele. She sang a few lines, and I was sold. I knew she was on to something.

Kreyolicious: When did you realize that you were getting good at the cello?
I realized that the first four months. I was advancing very rapidly.

Kreyolicious: Do you ever think of taking up another instrument?
I also play the saxophone.

Kreyolicious: The saxophone! How does it compare with the cello?

Kreyolicious: Do your parents come to your shows?
They used to but not as often anymore, unless it’s a really major event.

Photo Credit: WFR Photo/JJ Jansen V Vuuen

Kreyolicious: What advice would you give to someone who wants to take up an instrument?
[I’d say] make sure you really study the fundamentals.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE CELLIST’S WEBSITE!

GO HERE TO GET A TASTE OF HIS MUSIC!

After a career that has spanned several decades, Emeline Michel doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, but she hustles and bustles as if she still does. Michel’s latest album is Quintessence, her first in nearly five years. Michel wrote all the songs on the 12-song album, except for two tracks, and as with previous Emeline Michel productions, she lent an artistic hand to every single track. When she is not composer, she is arranger, and in some cases, she wears the singer tiara, the composer tiara, and the arranger tiara. She is a pretty cookie, but she’s not the sort of cookie who’s there to decorate the table. She’s cooked all the little goodies on the table—thank you very much.

Michel was born in Gonaives, and recalls growing up in the countryside area of that city, and relishing in the unique pleasures of country life: sitting across the shadow of bonfires at night, listening to stories, eating tropical fruits with her close family, and most of all, and being fervently drawn to singing. Her penchant for singing would take her to atmospheric heights unknown to any other Haitian female singers before her: recording contracts with the world’s biggest labels, before venturing out on her own, and highly-acclaimed solo albums, and an envy-inspiring career that has been consistent and artistically fruitful. “Enormous,” is songwriter and composer Ralph Boncy’s one-word answer when asked about Michel’s significance to Haitian music. Boncy worked as producer on Michel’s debut album. He elaborates: “We wouldn’t even talk about a Haitian music industry when she started, in the mid 80s. Nearly thirty years and [several] albums later, she’s still hanging on. She has also been a major influence on most of the female singers who started after her, needless to say.”

Yes, indeed, needless to say. Singers like Misty Jean and Tifane, for one, who have always cited Michel as a musical influence. When asked to name her favorite Emeline Michel song, Misty Jean is at a loss of which to name. “I got so many I love,” says the singer. “Just to name a few “Pè Letenel”, “Lanmou Se Flanm”, “Vant Kòde”, “Pa gen manti nan sa.” Each of the songs that Jean names are from a different era of Michel’s career. From Michel’s artistic apogee came “Pè Letenel”. Watching the video of “Lanmou Se Flanm” with Michel in a Grace Jonesque high-top fade, and shaking her hips, it’s apparent that she was exploring her sensual side, as was clearly the case with the puffy lacefront Emeline in the “Pa Gen Manti Nan Sa” video.

With each album, the singer reinforces the Emeline Michel brand. Practically everything she wears on stage, she designed herself. Every outfit is calculated, every move orchestrated, down to her twerks on stage. Says Fabrice Rouzier, who initially met Michel in the early 1980s, “She, without a doubt, is the Queen of Haitian Music. She is a major and perhaps the first and foremost influence on young women trying to make a career of singing. She is also an influential musician always trying to innovate and bring something fresh to the table.”

Q & A

How did you discover your talent for singing?
Well, there is a magical thing called church. My family was very religious. Early on, I was surrounded by the church. I was going on prayer nights. That’s where the music started. I had to go to church every morning. To God be the Glory. You had to sing for God. You sing with spirit. You’ve gotta sing with faith. All the music people were there. One day, the director of the choir—he was maestro of the choir—realized that I could sing solo for the choir. He gave me more and more songs. And I realized that people reacted a certain way; they clapped a certain way. I thought maybe I could sing something different too. And then slowly, gradually, I started to get with a friend that played guitar to sing things that didn’t have to simply do with the choir. I end up realizing that, okay, at my school at College St. Pierre, where I went for secondary school, I could sing for a birthday party for one of the teachers. Then Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day. And I’m like, “Yes, I probably could do that for a living.” So early on, I would say the ground was the choir at my church. I went to church all my childhood and adolescence. And in school, which was College St. Pierre, where they nurtured talent. And I realized that I enjoyed doing it. First I was doing it for the fun of interpreting all the different French singers. My first gig was like for $50 [Laughter] Then it became like, “Yeah, I got $50 for a show at L’Institut Français.” [Laughter] That was my first pay. I was so proud to bring $50 home. So, that’s how it started.

Emeline Michel gets down on stage. Photo Credit: JP Dodel.

What did your parents think about all this?
You know…at first, when you’re singing for God, that’s always totally fine by them. My family always dreamed of me getting married to the pastor’s son because we went to the same church. [Laughter] But it was not happening. My father was the one that opposed [my musical career] the most. My mother—she was different. Sometimes she would be sewing new clothes for me—a long skirt that I like. Because she was like, “I don’t want you to show up with the same clothes all the time, the same dresses.” I found more support—at first—from my mother than my father. My father was like, “You don’t go to church and sing? De towo pa ka viv nan menm kay. [There can’t be two heads in one house]. One towo had to go. You can’t live in this house. If you don’t change, you will not find food at this table.” You wouldn’t believe how drastic he was at first. And then one day, he gave up. There was this theater near Champ de Mars called the Rex Theatre—I said to him that my dream was to fill up that place. It seemed so impossible. Two years down the line, I ended up being in TV. He [turned on] the TV and saw someone announce that “Oh, we’re hoping that the next time the artists will come and help.” There was a traffic jam in front of the theatre. It was the first show under my name. He looked at me, and said, “You know what? Chante pa mennen manje. Singing won’t put money on the table. You do whatever you want. If you break your teeth, it’s going to be your responsibility. You can do whatever you want.”

When you had that performance at that theater, what year was that?
Oh gosh. I’m not good with dates at all. I can’t remember dates at all. So it was around…It was after Jean-Claude Duvalier left, so 86-87.

I thought you had like three, four albums, and then I read that you actually have, like, ten to eleven albums. Are you going to be reissuing the other ones— your old albums?. They’re really hard to find. I went online, Ebay…
Unfortunately [they’re not available]. I will—certainly in the near future [make them available]. One project at a time. You have to catch your breath in between. But it is true, that in the future we can have a catalog keeper. In the industry, there is no such thing at this point. But I really look forward to getting all that material organized. But it’s really hard to find the whole albums. I have a total of eleven albums. One was a compilation made by Sony Japan. They took all [sorts of] different songs from different eras, and they put it out as an album—they called it Flanm.

There was thing song that you had performed during your show that’s on your new album. It was called “Djannie”. I’m just wondering—have you ever been in a—because to me that song—I’ve never actually heard a song like that—to me that song is extremely powerful—and like wow. I hope that’s one of the main songs that you end up doing videos for, and what not. And I’m just wondering, have you ever been in a physically or verbally abusive relationship?
Um…some times you know…[pause] yes, one time—that was the first time and the last time. You are not proud when something like that happens to you. You could have seen it coming and everything. But that happened. I kinda remember my mother’s words, saying: “The first time is not the last time.” And I think the song and my personal story were at first very separate. It was when I met with Kali, and he made me listen to the melody without no words. He was like, “Emeline, we’re doing it, but I want your touch on it. I want your essence on it. Let’s get into what inspired it.” It was a woman that was beaten so bad by her husband, that she died and the child she was carrying as well. How do you manage to change something so strong and put something else into it? Kali was kind of reluctant to embrace something so heavy. But I was like, ‘Go for it, Kali. Because you know what? I think it will be helping someone who is in a situation where they’re afraid to move on.’ Sometimes they don’t want to start over again. Because they think that when the man is beating them up in a relationship, and they’re jealous and they think that it means they love them. That’s why in the song, I said: ‘Mwen di ou mwen pase la deja—I’ve been there before. M pap pale met la. Because I’m your friend—that’s why I’m telling you that—because I went through it.’ I think it was important to be honest about my own experience and how much—in being able to get out of it—I was able to love myself. Love, love, love and embrace the idea that I could find someone who could love me better. So that’s why I think “Djannie” came across so strong—it was a true story.

Some people who are probably reading this, will probably think to themselves, “How can somebody like her, who’s famous, could have gotten into a situation like that? What would be your message to someone who might have that sort of reaction?
Well, I think we all—when it comes to love and emotions—there’s no famous. There’s no, ‘I’m this, so therefore, I’m exempted’. We are all subject to being so numb, so blind—when it comes to someone we love. We’re gonna give all the “good” excuses. We will say, ‘Oh, you know it was in jest.’, ‘You know he really did it because he really—‘, ‘You know that was just one time,’ ‘I can understand where he’s coming from’, ‘Oh it’s really jealousy because he’s in love with me.’ You when when you’re working or you’re going out and this person picks your seat. It’s easy to get caught up on the nonsense, and not realize his true intentions. But I think my mother did a wonderful job. She always told me: “Don’t let anyone raise their hands on you. If it gets to the point where you can’t communicate with each as a human being and listen to each other, then there’s no love.”

When someone sits here and studies your career—you’re actually like the first Haitian female solo singer of modern times. How did you know how to act—because you didn’t really have a precedent—there was not really a tradition. I have read about the Lumane Casimir lady, but she was from the 1930s-1940s. How did you know how to carve this career? People like Fiona Lewis in the U.S. music industry, and everybody else had someone who paved the way. Studying the Haitian music industry history, you didn’t really have anybody before you. How did you carve this incredible career for yourself? Is this something that you learned as you went along? You didn’t really have anybody guiding you?
I appreciate the question ‘cause sometimes it’s good for me to hear it and to question myself. I don’t really come from a family that had any music background at all—especially in Gonaives. There’s quite a few singers from Gonaives. In my family, we didn’t have no singers, no guitar players, no piano players at all. I was ridiculous. I would get up early and take the broom and sing in front of the mirror [Laughter]. My mom would say, ‘Be quiet. All the neighbors already know when you’re coming from school’, because I was singing loud. It was really the love and the passion for music and for art that really took over. They took over. I was passionate about the arts. I had the chance to study with Daniel Marcelin—he taught drama [in Haiti]. We would lie down on the floor, pretending we had fleas. Sometimes, we would fall asleep. These are the experiences that I had with people as [mentors]. When I first started in my career, my father was like, “No,no one is going to be picking up my daughter!” Yole and Ansy Derose—they were doing a big show: Journée International de la Jeunesse [International Youth Day]. Yole would come to ask my father for permission to take me to rehearsal. The driver—their driver would come to drive me back. I remember the next day, Ralph Boncy had an article—my first article [concert review]. [It basically said that] I was only eighteen years old, and I was in front of 12,000 people at Sylvio Cator [stadium].

In terms of those people who were instrumental in your early career, how did you connect with them?
When it comes to Daniel Marcelin, my sister was taking a class with him. One afternoon, I came along, and it wa like, “Whoa, what was that all about.” With Ansy and Yole Derose, they were planning a show and they were looking for singers. They wanted someone to represent every department [region] in Haiti, including L’Artibonite, where I was from. I went to Radio Nationale to audition.

What do you remember about your first album? Putting it together, the reaction to it?
I was so mad! Because, for me, it didn’t come close at all to what I really wanted.

The sound? The cover?
[Laughter] Everything about the album! I was like, “Why is my voice so low? I can’t even heart it.”

Emeline Michel in her teens. Photo Credit: Emeline Michel’s private photo collection.

What was the name of the album?
Douvan Jou.

How many songs?
I don’t remember. [pause] There were nine songs. There was usually nine. It was a vinyl record. That was the era.

Did you write them? Or did you have co-writers?
Co-writers. Because at this point, I was working with co-writers. With Ralph Boncy and Sharp—it was like an association that was producing new artists.

Did you have an artistic say in the arrangements…the—
Of course. I always did. Thank God. I will always be grateful to Ralph Boncy. He’s the one who pushed me: “You can do it. You can write your own song.” And later, when I wrote “Flanm”, he was like, “Ah, you’re on your own. I’m not going to touch that one.”

Was that the first song you wrote all by yourself?
The first one I wrote was “Ayiti Peyi Solèy.”

When you’re about to launch a new album, how do you determine its style? Do you wait to be inspired, and go from there?
You will [usually know] what to write. [It all has to do] with what’s going on in your world.

Your record label–Cheval de Feu—what inspired the name?
I am a horse on fire. [Laughter] In the Chinese calendar, you have your pig, your horse, and I am a horse on fire.

You have this song called “Pa Gen Mantin Nan Sa”. Oh my God! How did you come up with that song?
[Laughter]

Did you write it for someone?
I wrote it. Actually, we were working together Mushi Widmaier and I. It was written in Miami, actually. In Florida. At that point, Ralph was the one who produced that album also. We rented a whole house and all the musicians were together all day long. Then we went to the studio. It was a beautiful experience. I told Mushi I wanted something that would take your breath away. He did a good—an excellent job. That’s one of my favorite songs too, actually.

Do you ever see yourself living in Haiti for good?
Absolutely. I’m raising my son. He’s twelve years old. But further down, I see myself living in my country.

Who would you want to play you in a movie?
Wow. I honestly never thought about it. It’s not an ambition. I don’t know. I never really thought about it, really. I’m sure if someone had an intention of [filming a movie] that would capture my past, they would be able to find someone who could do an excellent job…a really wonderful artist.

Do you have any regrets about your life or career?
Never. What better life is there?

Say for example, if you could speak to yourself, what would you say to yourself when you were first starting out?
Actually…[Laughter] What would I say to myself? I am born in March, the first day of Spring. If I could…I would teach myself not to be so impulsive. There was a part of me that was [impulsive].

Addt’l Photo Credit: Performance photo by Marc Millman, MySpace and album art.

The Haiti Film Fest, presented by New York-based arts organization Haiti Cultural Exchange, will launch today Thursday May 11 and will continue through May 14. Among the films being screened on May 12, is Minutes to Say Hi, a short. Filmmaker Easmanie Michel, the screenwriter-director behind the project, took some time out of her schedule to talk more about Minutes to Say Hi.

Kreyolicious: Minutes to Say Hi your latest project came about how?
Easmanie Michel: During my last semester at NYU, I took a filmmaking class where we had to write and direct a short film. I had been writing Minutes to Say Hi as a short story about the time period when I moved to the United States with my father and my younger sister in the eighties. I decided to adapt the short story into a script. The story is about an eleven-year-old girl who is approaching puberty without her mom who was left behind in Haiti. During that year where I was separated from my mother, our only form of communication was via a pay phone. At that time, long distance phone calls were quite expensive so we could only afford to talk to her for a short period of time.

I vividly remember the recorded operator’s voice that would periodically warn us that we were running out time by announcing how many minutes we had left. In Minutes to Say Hi, I tried to capture a significant moment in a young girl’s life of adjusting to a new culture and maturity without her mother.

Kreyolicious: What’s the best thing about being part of this festival?
Easmanie Michel: The best part of Haiti Film Fest is being introduced to the Haitian filmmakers who are creating works in Haiti. I remember the first time I attended Haiti Film Fest and how I was left with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude while watching the myriad of films about Haitians living in Haiti.

I applaud Haiti Cultural Exchange for their steadfast commitment to help Haitian filmmakers and films about Haiti reach not only the Haitian audience, but also the wider community.

It is easy for filmmaking to be regarded as a frivolous activity especially when there are so many pressing needs in the Haitian community. However, it is my belief that cinema – the moving image – has an extraordinary ability to be transcendental. It can reveal perspectives on Haitian lives the that may help dismantle the stereotypical images of Haitians that constantly saturates mainstream media.

Kreyolicious: With technology changing faster your can say Minutes to Say Hi…what do you envision will happen to the film industry as a result?
Easmanie Michel: I recently attended an IFP “Meet the Decision Maker” workshop in Brooklyn where the attendees were given opportunities to speak to representative from a New York City film sales company. We were told that the company’s main initiative was specializing in director-driven work that would have a festival and theatrical run. This seemed to go against the ongoing message in the media that this strategy is being phased out. So even though digital platforms such as Netflix has become increasingly mainstream, this model will continue to exist.

Also, there seems to be a new twist to the movie viewing experience that will keep theatrical releases alive, especially with indie and experimental narratives. I recently watched a documentary at this place called Metrograph in the Lower East Side. It was a different experience than your usual movie going night since the place was comfortable and included a bookstore and a restaurant to boot. Similarly, a place in Williamsburg, Nitehawk Cinema, has the same setup. It would then seem that ambience is slowly become a key component in the indie film making structure thus making it more of an immersive experience.

As far as the business of film is concerned, I think that although filmmakers have the ability to reach a far wider audience than before with social media, etc…the amount of people creating content still makes it difficult to get independent films made without the help of larger companies, digital or otherwise who really only want to invest in films that can guarantee a profit. Of course, cultivating an audience, especially with complex or innovative stories with social media, now becomes a facet of the overall process and can be brought to the table.

I am an advocate for focus on auxiliary products. Not only can it help the filmmaker and other stakeholders make more of a profit on their film, but it also adds to the “experience” I just mentioned. Sometimes, undue attention to this part can contribute to the pitfall of lukewarm narratives, but in light of filmmakers having the power to do their own marketing, product placement and so on this opens up greater autonomy. This is all hard work in addition to the miracle of making a film. One has to weigh it out – the pros and cons, but more options are better than less.

Minutes to Say Hi by filmmaker Easmanie Michel will screen May 12 Friday, at the | Five Myles Gallery 558 St. John’s Place, Brooklyn, NY 11238 | 6:00 to 9:00pm | CLICK HERE to Visit the Haiti Cultural Exchange website to learn more!

Independent filmmaker Easmanie Michel is a woman who won’t sit still creatively. Her short film Minutes to Say Hi was recently screened at the Haiti Cultural Exchange Haiti Film Fest. The Harlem-based filmmaker has Caroline’s Wedding, another cinematic baby on the horizon. The feature is based on a short story written by Edwidge Danticat and Michel has already signed Vicky Jeudy of the Netflix series “Orange Is The New Black” as part of the cast. I took this time to discuss the film with the NYU grad, as well as the significance behind her handle on social media…Ugly Girls Can Rule The World.

Kreyolicious: If you had to do things over, would you have skipped college and just worked in the film industry?
I would not have skipped school because I think my studies in English literature, cinema theory and philosophy have given me a nuanced understanding about the topics I’ve wanted to address. I am intrigued with human consciousness, and my studies have enhanced my desire to explore, visually, the reasons people make certain choices in their lives. I have considered and encountered the more abstract textures of human experience through my studies.

Easmanie Michel having a squad moment with Edwidge Danticat, on whose short story her upcoming film “Caroline’s Wedding” is based on.

Kreyolicious: Your handle on social media is “Ugly Girls Can Rule the World.” Why that choice? And how come ugly girls run the world?
There is something about that handle that is appealing to me because it forces people to think about what is ugly and the nature of what is considered beauty in a cultural context. Some people are offended by the title and someone once told me it was “disingenuous.” And yet others understand that in some way there is power in reclaiming the word.

Perhaps if we change our relationship with it, it may also challenge aesthetic ideas of beauty. Our culture promotes an aesthetic point system that can often be demoralizing; there is an image of perfection that dominates our society. I feel this handle is “subversive,” in so far as it challenges that.

Kreyolicious: One of your next projects is Caroline’s Wedding with Vicky Jeudy. How is that coming along?
The project is coming along. Last year we participated in the Women at Sundance Financing and Strategy Intensive. We are still looking to capitalize the production through fundraising and investment.

I am looking to shoot the feature by the end of the year. We currently have a website where updates about the film can be found at www.carolinesweddingthefilm.com. Also, the project is fiscally sponsored by New York Women in Film and Television.

[Main Photo Credit: Tequila Minsky]

If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation to Caroline’s Wedding, the upcoming film from Easmanie Michel, you can do so by clicking here: