This is my 4th trip back home since the tragedy, "the thing", "goudougoudou"... This time I am back as a filmmaker and not a mourner, although I see myriad reasons for grieving all around me. The temporary has settled into the permanent and I could swear that there are more tents in the city than there were the few weeks following the earthquake. The city is extremely congested and feels like another disaster is just lurking about. The time spent in traffic just to drive 3 miles is deplorable.  The cholera epidemic, brought to the country by UN soldiers is still robbing lives on a daily basis.  Okay, I am sounding way to negative, where is the hope? Some of you are asking... Well it has taken leave of my native land and I don't know when it will return. Most of you who know me, know that I am far from being a pessimist which can only mean that I am being extremely realistic and alarmist. The presence of over 5,000 NGOs in the country, and the deteriorating living conditions of my compatriots leave me quite perplexed.  I will not proceed in this direction as it is too depressing to get into and it angers me profoundly.  So I will talk about my experience shooting a film in my native land.  It is extremely difficult to shoot a film in Haiti these days. Difficult because I am deeply affected by what I am seeing around me, but also because my compatriots are sick and tired of being filmed and discovering a profusion of the same old horrific denigrating images of themselves on networks all around the globe.  So, I get yelled at and insulted, I am called every dirty name one can think of and believe me in Haitian Creole we have an abundance of some low down dirty words. But I can't get angry, because I understand exactly where they are coming from. So I stop shooting, and I establish dialogue, explain and justify my presence.  They complain that they are filmed like animals and are never given the real opportunity to express their true feelings, the deplorable situation they are living in, their dreams and aspirations, their vision for the country... I tell them that's why I am here, I tell them I was not ready 18 months ago, but now I am. And then when the ice is completely broken, they give me their telephone numbers voluntarily for me to come back and  film them "so we can say  tout sa nou gen sou kè nou (everything we have on our chests)..." 
Below are some pictures from our first week of the shoot of Notre Dame de Port-au-Prince, (Our Lady of Port-au-Prince). Please post comments, I would love to hear from you. 
Port-au-Prince, Haiti  July 4th 2011 at 3:42PM