To My Anonymous Haitian Admirer

This post is in reference to the following comment made to me by my anonymous Haitian admirer (all of this is sic):

Ken we can forgive you for your comment about filmmaking in Haiti if only you had taking all the things you said about the struggle of making a movie in the island but you did not consider anything on you comment, if someone had done the same thing to the people of America there would some consequences both you and sacha were not Haiti to help the Haitian cinema, the truth is that you two are in to exploite the Haitian cinema i did not any problem with that untill you start insulting the very people helping you making money with a film that was not making no money in the states for there is no appology and sacha should be out of the production of LA REBELLE all you two wanted just to take out as much money as you can out of Communication plus, you keep asking for more money we the filmmakers are building a market for Haitian film what you should of done was salut the effort of all who struggle to make a movie with almost no Budget when you come you ask for a Big Budget what do you bring to the table nothing no equipment what so ever.
if you want to help go get some production with money from the states and bring them to Haiti not take money out of the poorest country in the western hemisphere to richest country i want to that you be declare a "Persona non gratha" in Haiti both you and Sacha with out you and Sacha the production will continue you RACIS ANIMAL thank for your apology but no Thank you. stop stealing candy from the Baby the poor people of Haiti remember when we make movies in Haiti we don't have no one to ask for more money, Telephone, cars etc.we still make a movie.
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You obviously have some inside information about the production of LA REBELLE. Unfortunately you do not have the true facts.

I worked for many weeks putting together equipment for Communication Plus, testing all of the items, and transporting them to Haiti from the US. This equipment has been used by Haitian filmmakers at Communication Plus since November. Furthermore, I've worked on production planning for LA REBELLE since last Fall, and have been full time since mid-December. Once I arrived in Haiti in late January I worked 7 days a week on LA REBELLE until my departure on 3 Mar 05.

During all of this time I did not receive one cent for my work on LA REBELLE. During this time, as well as the month I spent in October dubbing SKIN DEEP, I paid for my own lodging, meals and living expenses. I did not have a cell phone or a car. I've spent far more of my own money than I have received from any resources in Haiti. I am not complaining as I freely agreed to this arrangement. I knew it would cost me money to work on LA REBELLE but I was willing to do it for the experience. If you're accusing me of pissing away Haitian money, then you're looking at the wrong person. I've actually contributed to the Haitian economy, albeit in a small way.

The budget for LA REBELLE is far from being extravagant. The only difference between LA REBELLE and the budget for most other Haitian movies is we wanted to actually pay and feed people like the actors & crew. We were not asking for money to line our pockets, or to live a high lifestyle while in Haiti. You might want to talk with your former Presidents about that sort of arrangement, but that's not what we were doing. My goal was to manage the shoot such that a movie with high production values could be made for the money that was available to the Haitian production company. I was trying to get the most out of every dollar spent on LA REBELLE.

If you'd like to come out of the closet and identify yourself, we can discuss the facts of the case privately. I strongly suspect that we know each other, and I would not like to have the misinformation you're spouting run amok within the Haitian filmmaking community.

And one important issue before I close: if you remember the movie, SKIN DEEP, you'll recall that the character of Michael who felt every problem he had was caused by racism. The result of his attitude was the death of an innocent person and the loss of his own life.

Bottom line: it isn't always about race. In this case, it has nothing whatsoever to do with race. Your racism charge is a cop out because you don't want to take responsibility for your own problems. Instead of making me the white devil, you should be addressing the real issues in Haiti. The save the cry of racism for when it really applies. I'm not your problem. I did not take from Haiti and give nothing in return. There's a great deal you can learn about filmmaking from the LA REBELLE team if you choose to take advantage of it. Stop wallowing in self pity. Your attitude is a big part of the problem. Why don't you try to be part of the solution instead.

Peace - Ken

mea culpa

It seems that Edner, our executive producer, was given the URL to this blog and read my comments in the last post, "Captain, we've hit an iceberg." The post was deleted to prevent further damage, because I certainly receive no joy from publicly humiliating someone. If I could take back the post I certainly would do so. I was here to support Sacha in his endeavor to create a work of Haitian cinema that can be enjoyed and respected in the international community. I am now an impediment to the making of the movie, so I'm on a flight back home.

My biggest regret is that the words I wrote hurt Edner, his collaborators at Communication Plus, and many members of the local Haitian filmmaking community. I did not mean for this to be the effect of my online diary. I hope this can be seen as a public apology for my inconsiderate behavior. Now that I have some first hand experience trying to make a movie in Haiti, I have a deep appreciation for the difficulties filmmakers experience in their endeavors here. The fact that they're still working hard to develop a national cinema is a testament to their fortitude and determination. Edner is taking a huge risk with LA REBELLE, and he must be saluted for trying to raise the bar for Haitian films and invest in the future of Haitian cinema. I hope those filmmakers I met while in Haiti--and even those I did not--will feel my sincerity and accept this heartfelt apology.

Some may say that the threat of bodily injury I received in the form of an anonymous e-mail was the primary reason I left Haiti. Let me assure you, this was not the case. Technically, it was not a death threat. The procedure promised in the missive, KAOCHOU NAN BOUDA-OU, is Creole for "shoving a tire up my ass." Depending on the size of the tire, this is potentially a survivable event.

In any case, it clearly shows how my comments stirred up a lot of emotion within the local community. I wrote the offending post in anger and frustration, and some reflection would have been useful. I definitely should have kept those words to myself, rather than putting them in a publicly accessible forum. To all of this I declare, mea culpa

This person, however, also accused me of saying negative things about the Haitian people. To this I declare myself 100% innocent. I have great affection and admiration for the people in this troubled but hopeful land. If anything was perceived as negative, it may have been the aspects of the Haitian personality that I was struggling to understand. Even those you love can drive you crazy every now and again. My most fond memories of Haiti are the people: those I met and those I witnessed every day struggling to survive in an environment where most of us in the US would throw in the towel. The people here give Haiti it's unique spirit, and I am richer for having the chance to live among them for a few months.

I can't help but feel like a complete idiot for being too candid on my posts. I was trying to capture my experiences here as unfiltered as I could present them. Unfortunately, I named names and that makes things personal. But even if I didn't name Edner by name, his adversaries here in Haiti would still have read between the lines and figured out who I was speaking about. Since the frustrations I expressed were such a huge part of my experience here, if I left it out I would have been defeating the entire purpose of this blog. Still, it was ill advised and I regret that part of this diary.

Unfortunately, this blog created a distraction that could disrupt the production of LA REBELLE. For filmmakers, the movie is everything and I've hurt the movie with my indiscretion. For that I am deeply sorry. I've learned a valuable lesson here and I sincerely hope that a terrific movie can be made of LA REBELLE. Too many people have worked too hard to see things fall apart so close to the start of production.

I'll be closely connected to LA REBELLE while safely back in San Jose, CA. (You won't see me anywhere near Big O Tires). The entire film production is in my computer, including the names and contact information for cast, crew, locations, sponsors and vendors. I also have the complete script breakdown and stripboards (more on these in a future post). I was just about to work with Sacha and Aitor on the schedule when all of this happened.

The bottom line is that the story of LA REBELLE is far from over. Even though I felt that things could not possibly come together in the time frame we were given, the rest of Team La Rebelle is working hard to pull it off. I'll give them all the support I can via e-mail and (thanks to LA REBELLE's sponsor HaiNet) a satellite phone link. You may regard me as a deserter, but eventually I will be able to disclose all the reasons I chose to leave the production ... and this time it won't be personal.

Until then I hope there's much more to document in the birth of a Haitian movie.

Thank you for your continued interest and support, and we'll talk soon - Ken

Slipping Down the Rabbit Hole

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, but after reading the account below you'll understand. Things have started to get strange here, and I haven't been able to wrap my brain around all of our current problems until now. Add to this my increasing frustration at getting reliable help and we have a recipe for creeping insanity.

We've yet to cast our leading lady (character of Lorraine, age 18). Several issues have arisen with Sacha's initial choices, and they are not easily resolved. We auditioned a number of additional Lorraines and had some terrific candidates. The main problem is that most of the young women vying for the part refuse to engage in scenes that involve kissing. The film (now entitled LA REBELLE) would take a severe reality hit if the teenage boys & girls did not touch and kiss. Remember, these aren't 13 year olds. These are about-to-be-adult-age teenagers--yet real girls/women ranging in age from 18-22 are squeamish about locking lips with another actor. For those who can remember being a teenager, did you think about anything other than sex?

CULTURAL NOTE: The cultural basis for the young ladies refusal to kiss on screen involves the notion that the actors on screen are actually playing themselves. We have 2 women kiss in SKIN DEEP and many Haitians have asked us where we found 2 lesbians to play the roles. We have yet to convince most Haitians that the actresses in SKIN DEEP were ACTING and not really homosexual.

For our potential leading ladies it came down to this: If I kiss someone on screen who isn't my boyfriend, then I'm cheating on my real boyfriend (or I'm a loose woman, or a whore, or some other person of questionable morals). One lovely and talented girl actually wanted to consider the kissing scenes, but she needed to ask her boyfriend about it. He flat out refused to "allow" her to be in our film if kissing was involved.

IRONY NOTE: Given the concerns about swapping spit on screen, one would think these "girls" are virginal pillars of virtue. The Haitian grapevine (the most rapid and reliable communication system in this part of the world) clearly indicates that none of these young ladies would ever be mistaken for Pollyanna. Another young woman, age 20 with a dancing career looming in her future, turned us down because of her concern about "what the Haitian public would think of me," if she's seen on screen kissing a man who is not her real-life husband/lover/boyfriend.

Maybe it's me, but isn't that pretty fucked up? We have a grand total of 2 women who are willing to enact the PG-rated intimate encounters required by the script. It looks like these will be our leading lady and her best friend. The bonus is that they're both among the best in terms of actual acting talent, even though none of our candidates have previous film or advanced theater experience.

Edner, our Haitian executive producer, gave us the names of people to do the hair, make-up and wardrobe for the film. He's worked with them before and we assumed he'd accounted for their services in the budget. Today, Edner refused to spend one gourde more than he spent on his last film for the same services, even though he wants LA REBELLE to have higher production values.

BUDGET NOTE: I still haven't been given a firm budget number for the production of this movie, and we're 10 days from the start of shooting. It is my feeling that Edner does not have all the money for the film and he's stalling. If we don't know how much money we have to make the movie, how can we secure the necessaryservices and personnel to actually pull this off? A meeting with Edner is scheduled for this evening.

I thought we'd have no problem attracting crew members. Not only have Haitian films paid little or nothing to their film crews, few people here have experience--even at the amateur level. That's why I was surprised when our candidate for First Assistant Director asked for $10,000 for the 24 day shoot (see below for more). Granted, 1st AD is a great deal of work, but that position hasn't even existed on most Haitian film shoots.

The fact that 2 Americans are making a movie here has led to the notion that we're offering Hollywood-style bucks. We have to constantly remind people that this is a Haitian movie and the budget (in Haitian dollars) is severely limited. No other Haitian film has reached any sort of an international audience, so the total revenue one can expect just from Haiti is finite and small. While we hope to attract an international audience for LA REBELLE, the money folks can't count on it.

MORE: We're offering a salary of $200 Haitian per day for the crew members. That's only about $27 US, but a decent percentage of our budget (whatever that is, but go with me on this). The 1st AD person was asking for $10,000 and I assumed that was Haitian. Since $200 x 24 = $4,800 Haitian for the entire shoot I thought we had some negotiating room. "No," he clarified, "10,000 US DOLLARS," or $74,000 Haitian. That, my friends, is non-negotiable.

Our next 1st AD candidate did talk us out of a bit more than $200 Haitian/day, even though he'd never been an assistant director and had only a vague idea about what the job entailed. A few days later he had to quit because he'd accepted a job to direct a Haitian feature film. I'm wondering who would hire someone to direct who's never made a film and didn't know the job of assistant director. We have officially exhausted the supply of potential AD's in Haiti. Now what?

This past weekend, Sacha had to go to Miami and pick up some equipment for the shoot. He was also meeting our Director of Photography, the famous Basque-man Aitor Mantxola, who will be lensing LA REBELLE. He's the same cinematographer we had for SKIN DEEP. The budget and equipment he'll be working with this time out is the smallest he's seen since film school. In fact, in film school we had more lights. As a result of Sacha's absence, I had my first 2 days alone in Haiti, complete with driving privileges and a cool Kia Sportage. I also had to negotiate downtown Port-au-Prince in order to renew my soon-to-expire passport.

IRONY NOTE: In the US it takes $85 US and at least 4-6 weeks to renew a passport. At the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince it takes 10-14 DAYS. So, if you ever need a passport fast, come to Haiti. It's also only $55 US here.

By far, the most difficult thing to get in Haiti is a straight answer. My experience in getting downtown to the US Embassy is a case in point.

Our production designer (a former Miss Haiti and the Miss Universe First Runner-Up) was to be my navigator on Ken's Excellent Downtown Adventure. I asked her to merely tell me, at least a few feet in advance, where I needed to make a turn and in which direction. After driving past the first 3-4 turns I realized that, unless I could read her mind, I was never going to find out about a turn until I'd passed it. I missed another turn because I was instructed to "go down here." Since we were on the side of a hill, and the road I was on was headed down that hill, I assumed I should go straight ahead. You know, down the road here.

I was told that, in Haiti, they refer to down and up as directions rather than the more traditional left and right. Since everybody knows which direction is up and which is down, there's no confusion. My point was that the road we were on was, geographically speaking, technically down so I did not realize I should have turned on a road that was MORE down that the road I was on. I repeated my requested for "left or right" as the exclusive answers my brain would accept under the stress of negotiating Port-au-Prince traffic. At the next turn I was instructed to go "Up."

When we arrived at the US Embassy I discovered an entire industry devoted to making passport photos. I was told we needed 3 photos, but every person on the street insisted we only needed 2. Since a cousin of Sacha (and an employee at the US Embassy) told us 3 pics, we went with that. The first vendor said he'd be pleased as punch to make me 3 photos for $50 Haitian (about $6.75 US), but my guide told me we could get a better deal elsewhere. She went to another vendor who was wiling to make 4 photos for $40 Haitian (even though, as he insisted, we only needed 2).

We had a deal and I sat in a tiny trailer for the photos, made using a circa 1950's Polaroid. Once the pics had self-developed, the vendor held out the 4 photos and demanded $80 Haitian. He pointed to a sign in his trailer, behind a jacket, that said 2 photos for $40 Haitian. I said that we had a deal, but he kept pointing to his sign. My guide came to the rescue. She and the vendor hammered away at each other in Creole (especially effective for cursing and arguing) for several minutes before she stormed out. The vendor made one last plea with me for $80 Haitian, but I just shook my head and said in fractured Creole, "We had a deal, man."

As we walked to still another vendor we were followed by a woman from the first vendor who insisted that we pay for the 4 photos. I was about to be seated for more pics in another cramped trailer when the woman finally relented and agreed to $40 Haitian for the 4 photos (which had begun to stick together). After I gave her the $40 she grabbed ahold of the photos in my hand and said she'd really feel a a great deal better about the transaction if I could include an additional 80 gourdes ($16 Haitian). I snatched the photos from her and made my way quickly to the embassy gate.

Along the way a number of people on the street had seen me reach into my wallet and remove some cash. Up until that point it could only be assumed that I had money on me (being a white American). Now it was confirmed and I had a bulls-eye drawn on my pocket. People wanted me to make change for them, buy their products, come and meet their sister, and every scam known to man--even a few the Devil himself doesn't know about. I did not breath easily until the huge, metal door of the embassy slammed shut behind me.

The passport process was painless and quick. When I left the embassy I ran as fast as I could into our car and locked the doors. I waited several minutes for my 2 female guides to make the same trip.

By the way, I only needed 2 photos to renew my passport.

Later the next day, I was tasked to pay a restaurant bill for our crew. The bill was 1440 gourdes, Since a tip on top of that would be a total of 1690 gourdes, I removed 4-500 gourde notes, gave them to our server and asked for the change. He never returned. I told everybody else to go to the car and I would take care of it. When I located our server I asked him for the change. He held out 60 gourdes and said, "Pou mwen?" ("For me?"). I said, "Mwen gen-u 2000 goud." He replied, "No, messu, u bam 1500 goud." He even showed me the cash register transaction that claimed I paid him 1500 gourdes.

We had a situation here.

We yammered back & forth for a few heated moments before I insisted on seeing the owner. She was seated at a table across the room. As I moved in her direction our server got to her first and insisted that I only paid him 1500 gourdes. She asked me if I was certain I gave him 2000, and I assured her that I was. I asked her to do a cash register count if she didn't believe me.


Suddenly, the server ran back to our table and reappeared with a 500 gourde note! He spoke with the owner but I could not follow their conversation. Then, she turned to me and said that the 500 note + the 60 gourdes was my change, and that the server was trying to give me the change but I refused to accept it. I told her that the server never showed me that 500 gourde bill when he was giving me the change, but I would be pleased to take it now. I handed the 500 g bill back to the server and asked for 2-250 g bills. He took it and disappeared into the back room.

Several tense minutes later he appeared without the change. I asked him. in a tone slightly less than threatening, to retrieve my change or I would do some crazy white person thing. He disappeared again for several minutes. This time, he brought me 2 crisp 250 g bills on a carved wooden turtle shell. I handed him one of the 250g bills and said, "Pa gen pwoblem, m-ami." He smiled, took the bill and gave me a pat on the back.

I'm still looking for a straight answer here in Haiti. My quest is ongoing, and I will endeavor to keep you posted.

Bonne chance et å bientot - Ken

The Vision Coming Into Focus

The great director, Mike Nichols, once said that directing was 90% casting. If one casts the right actors for the various parts, most of the work of the director is done. But as Yogi Berra would say, if 90% of directing is the casting, the other 90% is hard work.

Our slate of actors is taking shape, and it's looking good so far. We have the one of the most respected dramatic actors (the Tom Hanks of Haiti) in the lead male role as Carl. He's the wealthy single parent of our teenage rebel, Lorraine. Carl meets Elizabeth, a self-made independent woman who is quickly becoming the first significant relationship for Carl since his wife died. Negotiations are still underway with the actress to play Elizabeth and we should know more by later today. Since our wage offer can't be increased much at all, she wants a piece of the back end. That isn't as obscene as it sounds: she's asking for a portion of the production company's share of the profits. Her request is a whopping 1%, but Edner hasn't budged from his offer of 0%.

When Carl and Elizabeth look to be getting serious, our heroine Lorraine doesn't like the fact that there's another woman in Daddy's life. She's been his center of attention and doesn't plan to be #2. She begins to act out (a euphemism for sex and drugs) and starts heaping tons of abuse on Elizabeth to discourage whatever designs she may have on Dad. Our lovely and talented 17 year old star-to-be has officially turned down the part. She has too much going on at school, she's in the home stretch of her senior year, and she doesn't want to miss her senior trip planned during the middle of our shoot. C'est dommage, que sera sera, c'est la vie-c'est la guerre, and all those other French sayings. It's on to option #2.

Option number 2 is a 21 year-old woman with very little acting experience. She's done a lot of modeling and is very attractive. She looks a bit older than 17-18 (Lorraine's age) but her face has some baby fat that helps sell the fact that her character is still a girl and not yet a woman. Like every other actor we've offered roles in the film, she complained about the money. But Sacha managed to convince her that this role would be well worth the time--if only just for the experience.

NOTE HERE: The given for all independent (read low budget) films is the producers must convince ALL cast & crew that their project is potentially life altering. You play the hand your dealt, and indie producers usually have no cards at all, so they must use the most useful tool in their bag: bullshit. I'm not saying 100% bullshit because indie filmmakers wouldn't be making films if they didn't have true passion for their work. But for most crew members and cast, any film gets down to one thing: damn hard work. If the pay is good, the hard work is less of a factor. If the pay is crap, the indie producer attempts to convince the potential cast/crew member the work will be so wonderful --it won't even seem like work! That's the part of the sales job that's bullshit. I gauge the percentage to be about 90%.

It's very important for all collaborators to feel that the casting decisions made by the director were all his #1 choice. Even if they know the truth, this should never affect their work on the film. I don't want to hear any, "See, I told you so-and-so would be better." That infects the attitude of the entire crew and undermines the confidence of the actor. Whomever is cast, they are our absolute best, tip-top, #1 choice for the role. Confidence is the actor's the actor's best friend. The lack of it is our worst nightmare, because no matter how great the rest of the film's elements are (picture quality, sound, music score, etc) the performances remain the most critical factor in any film's success or failure.

Last night we were very fortunate to reach agreement with the most popular comedian in all of Haiti to play the part of Carl's butler. Much of the action in PITIT MWEN takes place at Carl's home. The butler is constantly eavesdropping on the conversations and behavior of our characters and commenting on it. It's like a Greek chorus, and this thread will add considerable comic relief to a mostly dramatic story.

I'll be giving you the names of our cast once contracts are signed. You'll be able to find out about some of these individuals on the web through various sites. One where you can get started is

Tequila Minsky's Haitian Film Database at
http://www.haitiforever.com/fora/film/curvers.html

Also check out Windows On Haiti at
http://haitiforever.com/windowsonhaiti/welcome.html

and Haiti Global Village at
http://www.haitiglobalvillage.com/

Stay tuned for more pre-production updates as we get closer to our shoot start date on 4 March 2005.

Bonne chance et á bientot - Ken

Transformation: Words Into Images

There comes a time in the life of every movie when the words of the script start to become the images the audience will ultimately experience. This is an incredibly exciting time for us. Up until now each person who's read the script has conjured up his/her own movie-in-the-mind. The most important of these preliminary visions is that of the director. It is his/her version of the script that the cast & crew will attempt to create. The director, with significant contributions from the movies-in-the-head of his collaborators, brings all of the elements of the film together into a cohesive and (hopefully) coherent piece of cinema.

PITIT MWEN has 101 scenes taking place in 29 different locations to be completed in 24 shooting days. Do the math and you'll see that we have what is basically an impossible task. Since one location will be the setting for 8 days of shooting, it means we'll have to move to 3-4 different places in one day on many occasions. Every film ever made goes through the process of seeming to be impossible at first. Those who are discouraged by this will never make a movie. Those who make movies see this as merely the start of a long, strange trip.

Let me go over the organization of personnel for our film so you can see how we've begun to push this enormous boulder up a steep hill. Sacha (our director) has been working with Marlie, a 24 yo Haitian woman who was the voice of Victoria in SKIN DEEP, Version Haitienne. They are translating Sacha's English rewrite of the script into French & Creole. Meanwhile, my production team (me, Regi, Paul-Henri and Carine) has been collecting information for cast & crew selection, attempting to secure sponsorships for our many production needs, and scouting potential locations. Once it has been established that a particular location is available to us, we show it to the director to see if it works for his "vision."

This is the point in the process when the real movie begins to come alive for those of us on the creative team. Each location and actor that we secure for the film adds another piece to the puzzle. Needless to say, this is a critical period in the filmmaking process. Time spent wandering the mountains and forests in Furcy (which we did on Mardi Gras) is, in fact, productive creative time. My job now is helping Sacha to "see" the movie. If a particular location doesn't work for him, it's back to the drawing board. Fortunately we're on a roll. As I write this we have over 1/2 of our locations decided upon.

Casting has been held up while our 17 year old leading lady decides if she can fit in PITIT MWEN while she is finishing her senior year of high school. The casting of many other roles depends on her decision. One potentially insurmountable problem is the fact that she has her senior trip during the Easter break--which is her character's big week for filming if she decides to get on board. Senior trip is a big deal for Haitians going to to private school. They head off to places like the Bahamas or Jamaica for a week with their classmates, and it's one of those cherished memories that define one's youth. The choice we are asking her to make is difficult and I certainly wouldn't blame her if she decided to pass. The film will take a significant hit if she does.

Our other lead female decided that the mega low budget wage we're willing to pay her is insufficient. This is a bit surprising, especially since this person has never appeared in a movie before and has no discernible fan base. I also believe she doesn't realize there's not much money to be made in making movies in Haiti, so there's really not much available to anybody working on PITIT MWEN. Our offer to her reflects a fair & equitable portion of the budget for a cast member. She doesn't love the script, so maybe her hesitation is a sign for us to reconsider her as well. When Sacha asked her what wage she would prefer to receive, this actress wanted a few days to think about it. On va voir.

Our lives here have been made even more difficult by the fact that Regi, one of the producers, crashed our car and rendered it inoperable. Unfortunately, he was not injured. Now, instead of the 2 cars we had last week, we now have none. Edner promises to do the best he can, but we're not able to do too much if we can't get around. It's not like public transportation is an option, even though tap-taps are only 5 gourdes per ride (see Haiti photos at
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos for a view of some tap-taps).

I'll check back in during the weekend and give you a pre-production update.

La Plage & Super Sunday

La Plage
Well, kiddies, Ken finally made it to the beach--albeit at 4:30 PM just as the sun was setting behind some clouds on the horizon. I could have taken a dip, but my choice was to eat and have a beer after an incredibly arduous drive. The beach is about 50 kilometers away from our house. It took us 2 hours over bumpy, dusty roads to get there. This beach is north of Port-au-Prince along the cote des arcadins. The terrain there is dry and the beaches have rocks or a rough granular sand. More tropical-type beaches exist south of PAP along the southern coast of Haiti. The most famous are near Jacmel, and they're more suitable for our film. Problem is, it's a longer drive and will kill an entire day of our meager 24 day shoot. But such are the sacrifices one must make for art.

Being at the beach reinforced my feeling that the sea has a strong force over me. It was magical, peaceful, and I could have stayed there for many days. Unfortunately, driving after dark in the sections of PAP we had to pass through is dangerous, so we grabbed a quick bite, a few bottles of Prestige, and we were on our way home. Over the next 2 months at least I can look forward to ONE day at the beach, even if it will be for work.

Last eve we went to a Super Bowl party at Barak, our club/bar of choice. There were about 6-7 folks there because American football is not popular here. The game was pretty good, but the food & beverage was terrific: spicy grilled chicken wings, sausage with Creole sauce, and enormous burgers imported from Omaha, Neb. THis brings me to Haitian trait #4) Haitians are extremely gracious hosts. The food was gratis and the conviviality was also on the house. Afterwards we watched a live feed from the downtown carnaval celebrations. Suddenly several shots rang out and the crowd dispersed instantly. Almost immediately afterwards, the TV feed went to Haitian carnaval music videos. We went home to see the news and discovered that the carnaval was back in full swing. Even terrorism will not dampen the enthusiasm of carnaval.

Ken Steps Out, Carnaval, & The Movie is ALIVE

Ken Steps Out, Carnaval, &
The Movie Begins To Emerge

Sunday, 31 Jan 05, was a landmark day for me. It was the very first time I actually took to the streets and walked around Pétion-ville all by myself. I am usually in a car and only walking from the car to wherever we're going (restaurant, house, business, etc). Last Sunday I finally stepped outside our compound in Bois Moquette and strolled amongst real Haitians.

Pétion-ville is on a hillside above Port-au-Prince and the entire town is on a slope. We live near the upper edge of town, so the stroll to centre-ville was pretty easy--except for the massive craters dotting the streets. Sidewalks are rare, so one must negotiate the many tank traps while trying to avoid contact with a moving vehicle. Haitians drive as if they had a bumper sticker proclaiming: I Brake For No Man, Woman or Child. Given the perilous nature of walking the streets in Haiti I'm surprised there aren't piles of dead and injured pedestrians lining the roadways.

I began my trek around 3:30 in the afternoon. The streets are much more active than they were back in November. The chimeres have been inactive since then and people are starting to come outside and enjoy life a bit. On this Sunday before Carnaval people hit the streets to sing, dance and romp around town following various bands and waving flags of their favorite sponsor (Barbancourt Rhum, Comme il Faut cigarettes, or Prestige Beer). Along the parade path there were numerous vendors selling everything from home made rum (sold by the shot) to house plants. It was quite a sight.

Being the only light skinned person amongst thousands, I expected to feel strange--as if everybody was looking at me. Truth be told, they could have cared less who the hell the "blanc" was standing in the street with the curious expression. For the first time I really felt like I was in Haiti.

My second excursion into centre-ville was this past Saturday. I had the morning free and wanted to cash the reimbursement check I received for my air fare. The bank opened at 9:00 AM. I was there at 9:30 and the wait was about 50 long, in a serpentine path winding around the small lobby. I cozied up to the last person and began My Excellent Haitian Bank Adventure.

Many aspects of Haitian society can be observed in a bank, particularly when the wait is a minimum of 30 minutes at any time of day. After the metal detector search, one wanders into the bank and meets a helpful bank employee. If you know enough to slip this person some cash you'll be escorted to the next available teller. Since I am ignorant of the going rate for this type of service, I became one of the few white people in the history of Unibank Haiti to actually get in line.

The line only moves forward when the bank guard insists the customers get closer together so more people can get in line. It also moves when someone gets tired of waiting and bails. The tellers work at a pace slightly slower than the movement of a glacier. The only sound heard is the ringing of cell phones, which are specifically forbidden inside the bank. (The award for strangest ring tone went to a young man with Havah Nagilah). If a person of wealth, light skin, or a strong sense of entitlement entered the bank, they just walked up to the next available teller without paying the customary bribe. In a line that had become about 75 people long, not one person made a peep when a woman of privilege walked into the bank and up to a teller without so much as a hesitation. In my list of Haitian traits, this one goes down as #3) Most Haitians are extremely submissive. Not one person in the bank line complained about the wait. No person even exhibited impatient body language. Waiting is expected in Haiti, especially among the lower classes. In order to blend in, I also carried an air of eternal patience by resisting the temptation to let out a long, exasperated sigh, or to batter that line jumper with self righteous indignation.

It was 10:23 AM when the excitement of being fourth in line took over. I had my check, passport and pen ready to go. I'd even memorized everything I had to say in French en avance. Finally, at 10:36 AM the teller looked around to see if there were any "paying customers," then rang a little bell to call me forward. I suppressed the urge to run up to him with profuse exclamations of "Merci beaucoup!"

My transaction went without incident. I even managed to give my address, phone number, and ask for $200 US in Haitian gourdes--all in flawless French. I walked out of the Pétion-ville branch of Unibank at precisely 10:45 AM. I was giddy with the sense of having accomplished something truly significant. In fact, all I had done was wait...like every other Haitian does... tous les jours, toute la journée.

My 30 minute hike back up the hill to Chez Nous also went without incident. I walked right through the Saturday AM market, bustling with vendors and shoppers. I tried not to think about the fact that I had the equivalent of 3 times the annual income of the average Haitian in my wallet.

A Night Of Haitian Music
PITIT MWEN will spotlight 3 major musical talents from Haiti: a young Haitian hip-hop artist named Christopher La Roche (Freedom), pop singer Michael Benjamin, and singer and saxophonist Mamina. I had the chance to see Mamina at a place called Escale Bar Terrasse. This is a bar/restaurant on the roof of a gas station in the hills overlooking downtown Port-au-Prince. We were placed on the guest list by Gerthie, our production designer, who is a personal friend of Mamina. That saved us the $30 Haitian cover charge (about $4 US) and fed our sense of entitlement.

Mamina is originally from Guadeloupe, a French province in the Caribbean. She married a Haitian musician and started doing traditional Haitian compas. In addition to being a terrific singer with a strong voice (think Celine Dion or Whitney Houston), she also plays a mean saxophone. Her show features Haitian hits from the 60's through the 90's, and a few American pop tunes. She even does a set of Spanish language music, some traditional, some salsa. The show was fun and she got the mostly older crowd up and dancing right from the start. We left after a few hours and she never took a break. During her set, she mentioned that Sacha Parisot was in the house. It was met with a round of applause. No mention was made of his producer. I've decided to get a tee shirt here saying: I'm Sacha Parisot's bitch.

The Movie Begins To Emerge
As of Saturday, 5 Fev 05, we are officially 4 weeks away from our shoot start date. As the elements come together (locations, actors, etc) I'm beginning to visualize the film in my mind. It is finally becoming ALIVE.

Here's where we're at in the pre-production of PITIT MWEN:

• All of our 29 or so locations have been scouted. We're in the process of taking Sacha to each of them for his approval. After we get a signed release for use of the location from the owner, Sacha and Aitor Mantxola (our cinematographer from the Basque country in Spain) will visit to plan each shot.

• Our 2 lead male actors have been cast. Offers are out to our 2 lead females, one of whom is only 17 years old. She will be the star of the film and is the only actress we've seen in Haiti who is perfect for the part of Lorraine; our self-possessed, spoiled little rich girl. We're nervous that her parents will not allow her to be in the movie, which will conflict with her final year in high school. Being an actor is no big deal in Haiti and most parents see it as a useless path of endeavor. (An asute observation, I would say). More on this later, but PITIT MWEN will take a severe hit if she can't be our leading lady. Most of the smaller parts are either cast or close.

• Our potential crew members have been identified and we're in the process of interviewing them in order to make our final selections. Preliminary meetings with wardrobe and make-up are set for next week and we've brought on a production designer to help realize the look of the film with Sacha and (later) Aitor. Most of the film crew members in Haiti are used to working for no money. We have an extremely small budget for the crew, so each one may make the equivalent of $20-25 USD a day.

• Another film shoot is taking place in our area as we speak. The film is "la pluie d'espoir" (Rain Of Hope) directed by Jacques Roc. Jacques is a Haitian who lives and works in New York City. He's been shooting his Haitian epic for the past 2 years, and the end is finally in sight. His last scheduled shoot days are the early part of next week and he'll be loaning us several pieces of equipment--and his house for 3 of our foreign crew members to sleep. He also hooked us up with 6 of his crew, all in critical positions, who are willing to work on PITIT MWEN. His generosity will be a saving grace for our production, and it will enable us to use high end grip and lighting equipment without having to purchase it from the US. We hear he's running a few days behind schedule, but he's still due to be finished next week. Stay tuned as I'm sure there will be more on this issue as it gets closer to our Zero Day on 4 Mar 05.

Since this is Carnaval weekend, and all businesses are closed on Monday and Tuesday, getting something done will be a challenge. We hope to visit our beach location later today (Sat, 5 Feb 05). I am so excited about FINALLY going to the beach, but as I write this Sacha is still working on the translation of the script from English into French and Creole. If he stops before it gets too late, I will get to see the beach for the first time in over 2 months in Haiti. Stay tuned to see if it comes about.

A bientot - Ken

We're Up and Running

It's official: we are now working full time to bring PITIT MWEN to the screen. I arrived last Sunday, 23 Jan 05, and this is the first time I've had the chance to write to y'all.

This past week, Sacha crafted a solid draft of the script, and we've gathered information for all of our locations, actors and crew. I am working with another producer, Regi Chevalier, who introduced Sacha to our Haitian executive producer. Regi knows the people and the language, I know what we're supposed to do, so we make a good team. We are currently working with another employee of Communication Plus (our Haitian production company) who helps us with contacting people and gathering information.

Getting in touch with people here in Haiti is a major undertaking. Most folks have cell phones, but the system is not reliable. In addition, many of the people we are trying to contact (cast & crew--mostly amateurs) live on a tight budget so their phones are often out of minutes (all cell phones in Haiti are pre-paid). We need detailed information about each cast & crew member's availability so we can make selections and develop a schedule for production. All of our actors and most of the crew have other (paying) jobs so availability is highly variable and not always flexible. We can't afford to pay them to give up their real jobs, so juggling the schedule to meet their availability is crucial.

As I continue to have interractions with more and more Haitians, some cultural idiosyncracies are starting to emerge. One may call these generalizations or stereotypes, but the pattern of behavior is constant among a diverse number of Haitians from various social classes. A thorough understanding of the culture in which I'm working is absolutely necessary if I expect to actually get something done.

I am certainly not saying, "All Haitians are like this," but some things are just too common. Herewith are some of the patterns of behavior I've noticed so far:

• Punctuality is not a high priority for most Haitians. Clocks should just show the hour of the day and a note saying, "a little after the hour." If one has an appointment at, say 10:00 AM, arriving at 10:59 AM is still considered to be on time in Haiti. Since film production lives or dies on schedule, this will be my biggest challenge.

• Haitians tend to be good natured and averse to conflict. For my purposes, this is a problem because it is near impossible to get really mad at a Haitian. Frustrated enough to pull out all of your hair, yes, but actually mad is hard. They seem to shrug off any attempt at reproach, and they never seem to disagree with what you have to tell them. As a result one cannot expect to achieve any sort of behavior modification with most Haitians. Expecting someone here to feel terribly guilty, or declare mea culpa about any particular incident, is completely fruitless. Most will smile, encourage you to do the same, and say, "That's the waay things are in Haiti." Bottom line: learn to deal with it because it ain't gonna change.

I noticed that I used "they" in my first 2 points above. This is a horrible pitfall that all visitors to a different land and culture must avoid... and I didn't. The problem is using "they" encourages one to regard those in the resident culture as "others," or those who are fundamentally different from us. The fact is that we have much more in common than we'd like to admit. The key is to dwell more on what is similar, and learn to adjust to the things we perceive as "foreign." I must remember that I'm here to work with the Haitians--they are not here to work for me.

Enough sociology for now. I'll expand on my list of Haitian cultural notes in my next post. Let's just say that I have a great deal to learn here and I'll try my best to stay open to this Haitian experience.

As far as the film is concerned.....the terror, that is inevitabily ellicited when one realizes the magnitude of a particular task, is starting to take hold of me. Just getting from one part of town to another can be an all day project. The time it takes to accomplish any task--even simple things that we take for granted in our society--cannot be predicted in advance. The guideline here is to triple how long it would take "normally", but be prepared to multiple that estimate by another factor of 3-4x. It is the only way to avoid death by frustration. There's a certain letting go that I'm learning in Haiti. Maybe I can apply it when I get back home.

Carnivale is just around the corner and pre-Carnivale celebrations have been taking place every weekend for the past month. The la grande fête begins next weekend and continues through Mardigras (Fat Tuesday) on 8 Feb 05. On Wednesday nobody works as they'll be recovering from the celebration. We hope to snag some B-roll during Carnivale, footage that we can add to our film, for the many transitions we have. I will not likely be a participant in the festivities because of my advanced age (that stuff is for the youngens) and my aversity to mosh pits of more than 10,000 people.

For those unfamiliar with film production, here's a snapshot of where are are as of 31 Jan 05. We are in pre-production whereby all the arrangements, schedules, manpower, and support systems are put into place. Our shoot start date is on or about 1 Mar 05, so we have one month to get our shit together. We're off to a good start with solid information on selecting cast & crew, as well as our equipment procurement and locations. I'll provide more detail as we attempt to accomplish each task throughout the process. Suffice it to say that we are at the very beginning and there's MUCH MORE in store for l'equipe Pitit Mwen

Ciao for now and stay tuned - Ken