Mission
Haiti: Past, Present, and Future from Conversations With the Living on Vimeo
Conversations with the Living: Globalization and the Haitian AIDS Crisis focuses on the advances medical personnel and HIV-positive Haitians have made in combating the disease and providing preventative measures within the confines of their severely decimated health care system. Conversations highlights the challenges patients face daily and the role foreign powers have played in exacerbating their grave situations. Specifically, the story will focus on Jean-Claude and his family as a representation of all HIV afflicted Haitians. We highlight the great lengths patients like Jean Claude go to receive treatment. Patients like Jean Claude not only deal with a lack of accessible treatment, but also with the social stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. In these cases, treatment is often affected by the need for the afflicted to maintain some degree of anonymity for fear of being laid off by their employers or ostracized by their peers. In addition, Conversations examines the malnourished bodies barely able to sustain the anti-retroviral medicines they receive; as these people represent a large percentage of a population struggling to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis in the developing world.
Documenting the harsh realities of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Haiti will bring the viewer into the day-to-day existences of these patients. Their stories do not need dramatizing or embellishing; they only need telling. That is the role of the documentary; utilizing this particular form of film-making will organize these stories into a narrative that remains true to the subject’s experiences. In addition, it allows the filmmaker to step back, analyze and highlight issues that are brought up during the course of telling these stories.
In a broader sense, Conversations with the Living is about commemorating the lives of people who have died of AIDS through the words and stories of their friends and loved ones.
Finally, Conversations with the Living hopes to take a significant step towards reversing centuries of negative portrayals of Haiti and her people. The time has come to tell the world about all the good things taking place in Haiti and show the country’s beauty.
A portion of the proceeds from the film’s earnings will be donated to the Hospice St. Joseph in Port Au Prince (www.hospicesaintjoseph.org) and the Le Peristyle De Mariani, represented in the USA by the Temple Of Yehwe (www.vodou.org).
Frequently Asked Questionss
When is Conversations with the Living set to begin shooting?
Shooting will commence November 1st, 2009, the day Haiti celebrates the Day of the Dead or Fete Gede. Once funding is in place, we will shoot for three weeks in Haiti, and then return to the United States for two weeks to review our footage with some distance between ourselves and our subjects. After two weeks in the States, we will return to Haiti for another three weeks of intensive shooting. We will travel to Liverpool, England and Bordeaux, France to conduct interviews regarding each countries links to bringing slaves to Haiti. These interviews will explore the Haitian Revolution, its causes, and consequences and shed light on what remains a misunderstood and understudied part of world history. One week will also be spent in Cape Town, South Africa, where we will interview former Haitian leader Jean-Betrand Aristide. We will then return to Haiti one more time in order to shoot during their Kanaval festivities.
How does Conversations with the Living propose to meet its goals?
Documenting the harsh realities of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Haiti will bring the viewer into the day-to-day existence of the afflicted patients. Their stories do not need dramatizing or embellishing; they only need telling. That is the role of the documentary; utilizing this particular form of filmmaking will organize these stories into a narrative that remains true to the subject’s experiences. In addition, it allows the filmmaker to step back, analyze and highlight issues that are brought up during the course of telling these stories.
How will the film be shot?
The bulk of the film will be shot in HD utilizing a combination of interview and verite styles. Interviews will be shot hand held, and when possible conducted outdoors or while action is taking place, in order to integrate the Haitian landscape. Archival images, documents, and video footage will supplement original footage; though kept to a minimum. The barren, deforested Haitian landscape will be juxtaposed with images of AIDS patients, bodies ravaged by the disease as a metaphor for the perpetual structural violence inflicted on Haitian people since their days as a French colony. Images of healthy HIV positive patients undergoing therapy and accompenateurs delivering medicine will serve as the counter-metaphor symbolizing the possibility and hope provided by human compassion and cooperation efforts.
How will Conversations with the Living be funded?
In order to fund Conversations with the Living, we are depending on the charity of the individual giver such as visitors to the film’s website. In addition, we will approach private individuals, non-profit charitable foundations, and numerous grant-giving institutions. Specifically, we hope to obtain funding from Center for Independent Documentary, Ford Foundation, Media Arts & Culture Grants, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Hollywood Film Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation. In addition to traditional avenues, we will organize a series of non-profit fund raising events in which the price of admission will serve as a tax-deductible donation.