Making a film in Haiti, as director Gessica Généus can testify, is no easy thing. When she began work at the end of 2019 on her 2021 feature, Freda, the country was engulfed in the Petrocaribe street protests, named for the vast scandal involving Venezuelan oil that saw billions of dollars vanish. Through December 2019 and January 2020 she carried on working, at one stage filming while gunfire rang out for hours outside the nightclub where she was filming, prompting concerned calls from her actors' families.
Généus's new project, due to begin shooting in the port city of Jacmel next year, will potentially commence in the midst of the even more difficult situation that has engulfed the Caribbean country since the murder of its president Jovenel Moïse by mercenaries in 2021. These days large parts of the country are controlled by rival gangs. Vigilante killings are widespread. The best hope in mitigating that violence may be a UN-mandated intervention, which Kenya has said it is prepared to lead.
Production companies have been wary of the risks of filming in Haiti. When I mention an incident that occurred during my own last visit to Haiti in December 2019 while Freda was filming - the murder of a French couple who were followed from the airport, Généus describes how that killing almost resulted in her production funding being pulled.
"I grew up in neighbourhoods like Freda's," Généus explains, describing her awareness of the rhythm of the violence in Haiti over the years. "I said [to the producers in France]: we have to do it now. Otherwise, the violence will spill over. Right now I wouldn't take that risk. There's an urge to kill at the moment that I can't explain."
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