Introduced by series curator Yasmina Price, Yale University.
Haiti: The Way to Freedom was Arnold Antonin's entry into filmmaking; he would go on to become a pillar of Haitian cinema, materializing a lifelong commitment to political films, Haitian history, and the collective memory of the Haitian people. Antonin created this film as a political tool, retracing historical pushes for sovereignty in order to sustain contemporary efforts. The documentary chronicles Indigenous Taïno resistance to the Spanish conquest, transatlantic slavery, the rebellion of 1791 and founding of Haiti as the first Black Republic, the return to the plantation economy and resulting peasant revolts, US occupation, and the beginning of the Duvaliers’ rule. (Ayiti Men Chimin Libete, Arnold Antonin, 1975, 16mm-to-digital, French and Haitian Creole with subtitles, 90 minutes)
Preceded by Anita, a film centered around a 14-year-old girl working as a maid and housekeeper. Filmmaker Rassoul Labuchin, a crucial contributor to early Haitian cinema, crafted a narrative which doubles as a metaphor for Haiti’s conditions of dependency and servitude. The first Haitian film shot in Creole, it was made in clear defiance of the Duvalier regime, leading to its immediate censorship and removal from distribution. Undeterred, Labuchin and his team toured Anita through provincial cities and the countryside as a mobile effort of political education and community building. The film was hugely popular with Haitian audiences and media, who saw it as an authentic commentary, and was celebrated internationally. (Rassoul Labuchin, 1981, 16mm-to-digital, Haitian Creole with subtitles, 45 minutes)
Part of the Exile and Memory in Haitian Cinema film series, programmed in conjunction with the exhibition Spirit and Strength: Modern Art in Haiti.