SKIN DEEP premieres in Haiti

SKIN DEEP, vHaïtienne OPENS IN PORT -AU-PRINCE
Friday, November 5, 2004 was a historic day for Haitian cinema. The very first film ever to be dubbed from English into Kreyol and French for the Haitian audience opened at the Cinema Imperial in Port-au-Prince. That's right, we made our deadline and SKIN DEEP vHaïtienne has been unleashed upon the locals.

Our deadline had been 11:00 AM on 5 Nov 04, but last Tuesday Edner (our Haitian distributor) informed us that there would be a gala premiere on Thursday, 4 Nov 04 at 5:00 PM. Due to the hard work of Sacha (while I was in New Orleans last weekend) we managed to finish at 4:00 PM, just in time to fight the traffic and deliver SKIN DEEP to the theater.

A few "Oh, by the way" 's: We only had time to do one volume leveling pass. For those who know what I'm talking about, you probably can't believe we were premiering a film with only one check of the track levels. C'est Haiti! Also, we didn't have time to lay it onto videotape, so we showed the film from our PowerBook. We would have a finished videotape for the public opening the following day, but we had to loan the theater our DVCAM deck as they only have DVD and Betacam players.

The good news about releasing a film in Haiti, and having a complete Studio In A Box, is that we can make improvements on the "finished" version and get them to the theater the next day. The preferred medium for theatrical release here is DVD, but we are still trying to figure out how to use DVD Studio Pro. I expect to have a DVD to them this week so we can get our tape deck back.

While watching the film at the premiere with a standing room only crowd, we took note of several places where the mix sound levels needed to be tweaked. Since our mix was done in the dining room at maison bois moquette (with and without headphones) we had no way of knowing how the sound would play in a theater. Now that we know we can fix it and get them a new and improved version. Again, the blessing of having only one theater and our Studio In A Box.

The premiere was the most rockin' screening ever of SKIN DEEP. There was almost 100% audience participation as they made comments and shouted advice to characters on the screen who were doomed to play out the destiny of the script. In case you haven't seen SKIN DEEP yet, our opening scene features a woman who has a rather satisfying (and loud) sexual experience. After she was done, several audience members gave her a rousing ovation. And that was in the first 5 minutes of the film!

Sacha was interviewed by most of the mass media outlets in Haiti, and I even did a short interview in French. Quelle surprise! Everybody who is anybody in Haiti had his/her picture taken with Sacha (many of them young women). If Ariside was not in exile, he would have been there as well.

The following day (Friday) the airwaves were filled with commentaries urging people to go see "the best and most accomplished film ever in the Kreyol language." One commentator on Planete Creole said that Sacha grew up in the USA, but he can tell by the film that he is 100% Haitian. Even though SKIN DEEP was made and financed in the USA, with American actors and in English, Haitians were taking ownership of the film because of Sacha's roots as a Haitian and the fact that we had the actors on the screen speaking their language.

Our opening weekend attendance at Salle 1 of the CInema Imperial was 2,250. That's more than twice as many paying customers than we had in our home town of San Jose, CA in a full week. Predictions are that SKIN DEEP may run through December, and even as early as Saturday people in the theater were shouting out the character's lines, indicating that this was not the first time they'd seen the movie.

Needless to say, both Sacha and I are thrilled. Who knew that the Haitian audience was so prime for our demented little film? By Haitian standards, SKIN DEEP is extremely risque, both in language and graphic visuals. Some interviewers have asked Sacha how he responds to accusations that the film is pornographic. Sacha points to the numerous Hollywood films that have screened in Haiti that are far more graphic and profane. The difference is, Haitians haven't seen this type of language or nudity in a film made by a Haitian. But that hasn't stopped people from jamming the Cinema Imperial to check it out.

One bit of controversy that will be addressed is the fact that SKIN DEEP has a self-imposed rating whereby nobody under 13 years old can see the film. In the USA it is rated R, and frankly as a parent I agree that 13 is a bit young. I certainly would not want to answer questions that my 13 year old had about what goes on in SKIN DEEP. At any rate, Edner wants to remove a portion of the opening sex scene in order to make the film more appropriate for a wider audience. Sacha and I agree, and thanks to our Studio In A Box we can make the changes and have the new (and final) version on the screen by this weekend. Edner plans to get as much as possible out of the theatrical release, but here and in the Haitian communities in the USA and Canada.

As soon as the changes are made, it's on to making PITIT MWEN!

NEXT TIME: Ken's escape to New Orleans and more on the power of language.