Movement forward

The sun shines...Jimmy just officially launched the Hollywood Unites for Haiti website:

www.hufh.com

and it's great. I remember when he told me he was just thinking about it, which was a bit after he became a character on "Heroes". Now it's material and movement forward. From a thought to action. Movement.

We've created a temp microsite for Nou Sove and are working on the official site now:

www.kijikmultimedia.com/nousove

Soon. Steps and bricks, morter and foundation. I can feel a sweeping movement coming soon.

A shot in the dark. Hope shines through.

There were many heartbreaking experiences while in Haiti. There is much poverty. But there is much hope as well. Just like anywhere I've lived in the world, the human spirit has a way of rising through obstacles. All we know is circumstance. Some are born with incredible monetary wealth. Some, like the lost tribe in the Amazon that was reportedly discovered last May know their environment and not much of the modern world. But were they really lost? I think they know where they're at. That leads me to the point of this post. We know our experience.

One great moment for me was when we were heading to Jakmel. The incredible photographer Marc Baptiste decided to stay in the back of one of the trucks for a while to shoot photographs on the way up.


Marc Baptiste


photograph courtesy of Marc Baptiste


Jimmy Jean Louis

Jimmy decided to do the same and I did as well. Again, one of the better experiences of my life. Marc had a bottle of 22 and we rode through Port-au-Prince and up to Jakmel shooting photo's, video and having a great time.

Marc is from Port-au-Prince and at one point we passed the area where he is from there. He pointed it out and told us this great story about how he got a scar on his face playing around in the streets of Port-au-Prince. He told me he had no idea he would even go to America, less become a famous photographer.

By that time I had already gone with Jimmy to where he was born and heard many stories about him growing up, met his Aunt who was great and some of his old friends. Jimmy had no electricity while growing up as a young boy. He told me he didn't even have a concept of what acting was while growing up in Haiti.

The world to them at that time was Haiti. When I was in Cite Soliel in the middle of one of the roughest parts, I was shooting video and heard a little kid maybe about 7 or 8 rapping. Rapping. I walked or should I say creeped over and started filming him like I've done on so many big music artists. And the boy started performing like so many artists. I jacked up the volume with a beat box and a crowd started to form. Bryn Mooser came over and started beat boxing too and next thing I knew there was a huge crowd almost concert like of kids and women and men and the kid was performing like he was at Madison Square Garden. He had on if I can remember correctly (this will be in the documentary, but we haven't made it to this tape yet so don't quote me)a Michael Jordon basketball jersey. Now we were in the middle of heaps and piles of garbage, pigs and goats and fires and piles of people on piles and there was this kid giving his heart. Giving his all. And all that disappeared. The piles became stands, the people became fans. He was at that time as good as any I've seen or at least had as much soul. He was the Michael Jordon, the Jay Z, the Rakim or TuPac of his city at that moment. He may have some of the troubles we hear so much about in developing countries, but at that moment he was brilliant and shining, a star. In the middle of the middle of Haiti. He most certainly knew a lot more than his immediate surroundings. He knew the world of rap music enough to do it as well as most. But he still hasn't been touched. Or that's at least what the statistics say. 70 percent illiteracy rate. Maybe he wasn't one in that number, but there are so many.

That could have been anyone really. In the Amazon, or on Heroes, or into wealth, or in the middle of the middle of Haiti. You could be reaching out, reaching so hard into a void, a black hole screaming for help. That kid may become a great rapper, or actor or photographer or wealthy beyond imagination. The odds may say no, but the odds have been wrong so many times. Scales balance, the cycle completes itself, guards change in ways never conceived. And anything can happen. Anything. Nothing is lost if never ventured to gain. And shots, even in the dark are worth it if to save just one. Most need that shot at least once in their lives.

Father Rick, Michael Stahl David, Jimmy Jean Louis, Connection

I've mentioned Father Rick on a few posts before. Since he was mentioned so heavily in the first post of this blog, I felt it might be prudent to touch on some of the other experiences before I got back to him. He is quite incredible. But first a bit about the film.

Nou Sove and the companion documentary Sove Nou are about discovery. What has happened in Haiti? What is happening? What does the future hold? Without understanding the past, how can we find the future? The films were not done to give the answers, to present a solution. There is too much there to even try to approach. What they are trying to relay is a broader discussion, to seek understanding.

Michael Stahl David is an extremely talented actor. For my company KijiK, we put Cloverfield as one of our top ten movies of 2008, not because Michael was one of the stars, but because it posed questions, made us think. What if? What drives people to react in dire circumstances?

What I think makes Michael such a great actor is the quest for understanding. I feel he reaches his character through that exploration, the motivation of the character. I felt I connected with Michael in part because of his quest for understanding while we were in Haiti. He explored more than many I've seen in my travels. There were times when the group was moving to the next stop and Michael would be across the street, or in an artists studio, or so engaged in conversation with someone (even though there was a language barrier), we would be gone for a long period without realizing he wasn't with us. I feel he was totally engaged with Haiti and that the people he connected with were engaged with him, drawn to him.

Jimmy is the main focus of Nou Sove in part because I feel he is Haiti. He is connected like no other to the country. His connection is evident in every character he plays, but also I feel in his life. He lives every moment for the moment.


And that brings me to Father Rick. Connection. He started an orphanage 20 years ago. He now presides over the largest pediatric hospital in Haiti and all of the Caribbean, the largest orphanage, the only clean water available to thousands of people and a school system that reaches into the poorest and most crime ridden areas in the country.



I was blown away by his ease from place to place. At the hospital he directed the opening of a new branch while we were there and the daily operations of the facility.






The next day he was giving away tons of food at a drop off point in Cite Soliel. He guided us through Wharf City and the slums in Cite Soliel, where only a few years ago the police and military would not go for even an hour. And they love him. All reaching out to him as we walked, not as a deity, but as a fellow man, human. And the schools in the middle of Wharf City. Incredible.



Connection. We are all born into a set of circumstances, some more favorable than others (at least on the surface). But who knows what circumstance one could have been born under. And in this time of crisis, where people are losing so much it's more relevant than ever. Walk a mile in another's shoes. Maybe connecting isn't so far fetched. Haiti is only two hours away.

The Connectivity Condition...Partying with Diane Lane

So here comes the new year and we're coursing through post production on Nou Sove. I was looking at some of the photo's and came across this one again:



I've posted it a couple of times before because I thought it was a cool, off the cuff photo snapped with my I Phone for lack of any other story catching medium at that time. It's out of focus mostly, but more in focus on Diane Lane while she flashes a gang sign. Well, it's not a gang sign, but what it does relay is a symbol of peace, relief a sort of letting go. Connection. She does connect so well on screen and I feel it's what makes her a great actress. But that night was all about connection. The group playing is called RAM and is one of the most popular in Haiti (I'll discuss them in a later post and wait until you see the interview and footage.) What makes them so popular is connection. They connected to the audience in so many ways that night. They connect to the people of Haiti and abroad through their message of politics mixed with songs of joy and straight out fun music.



Notice Jimmy in the corner.



He got caught up in the frenzy, grabbed the camera and started shooting. Everyone was caught in the the magic of the moment. We all I feel were one at that moment.

Moving into the new year I feel this is the place where change can happen. I call it the "Connectivity Condition". Holidays are a time where everyone takes a time out. They let go for a moment. Tensions are eased, stress is relieved (except Christmas, the most stress intensive holiday of the year). But New Years is about partying, resolutions, new outlooks, hugging the stranger next to you at the overpriced bar or club or warehouse you're in. Or your neighbor, loved one or in some cases your sworn enemy. But after the 1st it's back on, it's go time, the horses are out of the gate, the dogs are let loose, choose your cliche' statement.

I'll write more on how I feel the "Connectivity Condition" can make the difference for Haiti, but for now I'm taking time out before the new year to reflect on what is important. Connecting with people, helping when you can, feeling the connection is like no other feeling. Nothing can replace it and hopefully we can all take this feeling further into 09.