Tulane University

The Latin American Resource Center (LARC) has highlighted some key resources to help explore the depth and complexity of the disaster facing Haiti today. The films listed below are available for short-term loan through the lending library. For more information on the lending library please visit the Lending Library Website.

Through the Visitor Speakers Bureau, teachers and professors can invite a scholar who recently returned from Haiti to share their photos and experiences in the country before the earthquake. Also, every summer LARC offers a summer teacher institute on performance in Latin America. Haiti is always at the center of this institute. This Friday, January 22nd the Latin American Resource Center invites you to participate in a fundraiser benefiting a longtime friend of the center, Peniel Guerier and his art school in Port Au-Prince. To learn more about Peniel and his school please visit Tamboula.com. Please see the invitation included below.

Lending Library Resources:

Life + Debt
Description: With twenty-five years of “help” from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank intended to bring Third World nations such as Jamaica into the fold of free market economies, these “restructuring” policies have crippled Jamaica’s efforts toward self-reliant development while enriching the lenders. This scathing film is an unapologetic look at the “new world order” from the point of view of Jamaican workers and farmers, as well as government and policy officials. Featuring a dynamic reggae soundtrack and a searing voice over based on text by Jamaica Kincaid, as well as interviews with former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, Deputy Director of the IMF Stanley Fisher and President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Life and Debt portrays the relationship between Jamaican poverty and the practices of the World Bank while driving home the devastating consequences of globalization. Directed by Stephanie Black, USA, 2001, DVD.
Language: English
Length: 86 mins.

Madamn Ti Zo (Mrs. Littlebones)
Description: This is a documentary portrait of a dynamic peasant healer from Jacmel, Haiti. This film tells the story of an extraordinary Haitian elder who runs the equivalent of a rural health clinic from her modest thatched roof hut situated near the Jacmel River. While taking care of numerous relatives and neighbors who depend upon her, Mrs. LittleBones or Mother Bones, as friends know her, simultaneously works as a mid-wife and leaf doctor for an endless stream of men, women and children who find their way to her yeard seeking relief from their maladies. As she says in the film, “They call me Never Tired” her energy seems ceaseless. Moving through one delivery or treatment after another, her days and often nights of work are intimately observed in this unique look at one, of Haiti’s many, wise elders. Humorous, mysterious, and insightful the film offers a rare glimpse into traditional life of Haitian peasants. A reality where faith in the spirit world is central to resolving problems and where access to modern medicine is extremely limited. Entirely in Haitian Creole and filmed in a pure cinema verite fashion over the course of many months along Haiti’s southern coast, Madanm Ti Zo is the second of a six part series of films about Haiti’s elders and traditions. 2004
Language: Haitian Creole w/ English subtitles
Length: 65 min

The Agronomist
Description: From Academy Award winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme, “The Agronomist” tells the story of Haitian national hero, journalist, and freedom fighter Jean Dominique, whom Demme first met and filmed in 1986. As owner and operator of his nation’s oldest and only free radio station, Dominique was frequently at odds with his country’s various repressive governments and spent much of the 80’s and early 90’s in exile in New York, where Demme continued to interview him over the years. Dominique fought tirelessly against his country’s overwhelming injustice, oppression, and poverty but it was Dominique’s shocking and still unsolved assassination in April of 2000 that gave the director the impetus to assemble more than a decade’s worth of material into a celebration of this dynamic man and his legacy. 2003
Language: English
Length: 91 min.

Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy
Told through the compelling lives of five courageous Haitian women workers, Poto Mitan gives the global economy a human face. Each woman’s personal story explains neoliberal globalization, how it is gendered, and how it impacts Haiti. And while Poto Mitan offers in-depth understanding of Haiti, its focus on women’s subjugation, worker exploitation, poverty, and resistance makes it clear that these are global struggles. 2008.

Fundraiser

In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, Monique Moss and supporting New Orleans Artists are organizing a performance/party/auction/multi-arts benefit on Friday January 22, 2010 from 8 PM until at the McKenna Museum of African American Art to raise funds specifically for Haitian Dance Artist Peniel Guerrier Artistic Director of Ballet Folklorique Tamboula d’Haiti (See website: www.tamboula.com) and ENARTS (Ecole Nationale des Arts) the Arts school in Port-au-Prince where Monique has been studying with Peniel. She needs assistance in PR, gathering auction items and confirming artists willing to perform.

This is a grassroots effort and all proceeds go directly to the Master teachers and students of the Arts school to aid in the rebuilding of their lives and the vital function of ENARTS as a center for Arts and Cultural Education and spiritual well-being.

Performance Party with a Purpose: Silent Auction including Haitian Art Fundraiser for ENARTS Ecole Nationale des Arts (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) and Peniel Guerrier, Artistic Director of Ballet Folklorique Tamboula d’Haiti

Where: McKenna Museum of African American Art 2003 Carondelet Street (around the corner from the Trolley Stop Café on St. Charles Avenue) NOLA 70130

Who: Performing Artists include:
The Soul Rebels Brass Band
Chuck Perkins and Voices of the Big Easy
Newcomb Dance Program Faculty Theatre and Dance Department of Tulane University
DJ
More TBA

When: Friday January 22, 2010
Time: 8:00 pm until
Cost: $20.00 obo

Contact: Monique Moss 504-717-7728 mossms@aol.com
Jennifer Williams 504-586-7432
Beverley Trask 504-314-7742
Barbara Hayley 504-314-7741