LHOC Film Program - Little Haiti Optimist Club

H A I T I A N
L I F E
MIAMI, FLORIDA, AUGUST 25-31, 2010
SECTION C
A summer of filming
comes to an end
ABRIA
G O RE E
Little Haiti Optimist students premiere “From Reel to Real”
By Sandra J. Charite
[email protected]
While most students decided to stay home tuned into their favorite shows on television, a group of close to 20 more industrious youth from Miami-Dade County took part in the Little Haiti
Optimist Club (LHOC) Reel Opportunities Film & Video Summer
Program.
“I didn’t want to go at first,” said Fones “PJ” Pierre said. “But
I am so glad I came.”
Pierre, who hosted the “Parents Just Don’t Understand” segment of the show, was signed up in the program by his mother
and says he was surprised to discover that the experience was
awesome.
“This program was a great opportunity for me,” he said.
Pierre joined his fellow classmates on Aug. 17 for the premiere
of their television show, “From Reel to Real” and the graduation
ceremony from the summer program.
“I was raised in this community and someone had to help me
along the way,” said Marie Louissaint, president of LHOC. “I did
not know the show would take all summer long. These kids were
the camera people behind it. What’s so important to me is they
absorbed so much.”
LHOC in partnership with the City of Miami and the Sports,
Film & Entertainment Committee (SFEC) conducted the educational film program to teach students the art, business and science of video production and filmmaking and to provide them
with viable career alternatives.
Instructors, Dino Smith, Louissaint, Marvel Bart, Wills Felin, Devin Burnside, Jamal Kevin “KP” Pamphoile and Lou Vassor, gave students insight into writing, cinematography, lighting,
sound recording, directing, music and acting.
“I really learned a lot from these kids this summer,” Smith
said. “Once they got into the editing, hosting and producing,
they became really focused.”
With the help of their instructors, students traveled to different events and locations throughout South Florida to film their
show. Those places included: the American Black Film Festival,
Virginia Key Beach, Zo'sSummer Groove and the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Championships held at the Miramar
Ansin Sports Complex.
Students interviewed celebrities
from rapper Rick Ross and producers David Banner and Will Packer to
former NFL star Isaac Keys and actor
Darrin Dewitt Henson.
Exiting a white stretch limo in their
Sunday’s best, graduates walked
down the red carpet at the premiere
of the show.
Zu’Quwon Ward, who had a problem with waking up early to attend the
classes, is excited to have gone through
the experience.
“We can get used to hopping out of limousines and dressing up,” he laughed.
The students were welcomed by family and friends and elected officials that
included City of Miami Mayor Tomas
Regalado, City Commissioner Richard
P. Dunn and North Miami Mayor Andre
Pierre, who all applauded their accomplishments.
Mayor Regalado, who had many years
of experience in journalism, said he was
surprised with the students’ performance.
Commissioner Dunn commended the
students for their hard work and dedication. With the red carpet and movie premiere, Dunn had to take a moment to remind himself that he was still in Miami.
“I almost thought I was in Hollywood,” he
said.
Louissaint hopes to continue “From Reel
to Real” as long as the program gets the
support and funding it needs.
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Sosyete Koukouy searches for hope in ‘Met Lawouze’
The Miami Times staff report
In the last seven month, the
Haitian people have pounded
on hope as they faced a 7.0
earthquake that devastated the
country and mothers were left
without children, fathers became homeless and children
were left orphans. But yet, hope
remains on the footstep of the
Haitian people.
Sosyete Koukouy, a local Haitian organization, presented
“Met Lawouze (Master of the
Dew)” at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium on Sunday, Aug.
22 in which the play depicted a
story about a Haitian village's
search for hope and resolution
after a drought and a feud between two families has left the
country in stagnation.
The lead Manuel (Jacques Me-
dard) comes home after working
15 years in a sugar cane field
in Cuba but he finds his home
has changed. His family is saddened by the drought that built
a feud between families.
Manuel is angry with his
family because instead of finding solutions to these problems,
they are fighting and unable to
resolve anything. In the midst
Please turn to HOPE 11D
—AP Photo/Wong Maye-E
Bertrand Vilgrain of Haiti
heads the ball during the soccer match against Bolivia at the
Youth Olympics Monday, Aug.
16, in Singapore.
Youth Olympics
therapy for Haiti
soccer team
By Michael Casey
Associated Press
—Photo provided by / Marvin Elliot Ellis
After Manuel (Jacques Medard) is killed by his lover’s cousin, Gervlien (Anthony Bayas), families
and friends mourn him.
SINGAPORE
—
Beatrice
Derose doesn't gaze upon the
Youth Olympics venues or Singapore's gleaming skyscrapers
with awe and wonder.
She looks up with fear.
The petite, 16-year-old Derose becomes depressed when
comparing Singapore to her
earthquake-ravaged
Haitian
hometown of Port-au-Prince.
She admits she often looks up
anxiously during her 1,000-meter races.
"I have to look up everywhere
to see if something is going
to fall," said Derose. "I'm still
scared that might happen."
The quake on Jan. 12 that
destroyed the commercial center of Haiti's capital and left an
estimated 300,000 dead also
left the sports system in tatters.
Fritz Gerald Wong, the head
of the Haiti delegation, said the
quake killed several athletes
and coaches, including the
head of the girls' soccer team.
It also destroyed many training facilities and prompted authorities to turn the country's
only stadium into a tent city
for homeless survivors until recently.
And for many of the 22 athletes at the Youth Olympics,
the memories of the quake are
still fresh in their minds. Some
have struggled to return to
training and at least one — an
equestrian competitor — abandoned plans to make it to Singapore because of the trauma,
Wong said.
"We're talking human beings,
so you are going to have all
sorts of reactions," said Wong,
a member of the country's
Olympic Committee who owns
a gym in Haiti.
"You had some athletes completely discouraged. Some of
them gave up," he said. "At the
same time, that situation can
help motivate some of them.
Some of them will say if God
could give me life, I should testify and fight to accomplish a
lot of things."
Until recently, Haitian athletes had little to show for their
trip to Singapore.
But the boys' soccer team rallied for a dramatic 2-1 victory
over Vanuatu on Friday that
sent it to the semifinals against
Singapore on Sunday. The team
was formed only six weeks ago
and lost its first game 9-0 to
Bolivia.
"It's more than a victory,"
Wong said. "Any single thing
that a Haitian accomplishes is
amazing. It finally brings happiness."
Please turn to OLYMPICS 11D