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Yvette N. Harris
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Ayiti Images: Traveling Haitian Film Series Culminates With The Screening Of La Belle Vie: The Good Life and Papa Machete

Miami, FL- March 23, 2015- In it’s season finale, Ayiti Images a traveling Florida film series ends its successful 2014-2015 run with a double feature screening about the Haitian experience. The concept of Ayiti Images birthed from a burning desire to educate and project an authentic voice that depicts the Haitian experience from a humanistic perspective through the use of film and discussion. The screenings will be held at at 6 locations beginning Monday April 20th- May 2nd. A Q&A panel about the making of the films will accompany each screening event from the directors.

Ayiti Images presents the highly successful short film Papa Machete directed by Jonathan David Kane, which tells the story about the art of machete fencing in Haiti will be followed by the highly anticipated feature documentary La Belle Vie: The Good Life directed by Rachelle Salnave which examines Haitian identity.

A four-year in the making process, La Belle Vie: The Good Life takes a look into Haitian-American filmmaker, Rachelle Salnave’s journey to discover her Haitian roots by examining the complexities of the Haitian society but also chronicles her voyage to find hope in this nation on the brink of a new Haiti. “I began creating La Belle Vie: The Good Life in the hopes of showing the world another side of Haiti. As I come to terms with my own identity, I encounter a movement of Haitian’s in Haiti and abroad that may have faced similar stories then me, but have used their talents to change the face of Haiti and its culture,” director Rachelle Salnave explains.

“We are really looking forward to being a part of Ayiti Images. It’s such a special program. We’ve had great success at major film festivals, but it’s just as important to take the film directly to the Haitian community in South Florida,” says Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Executive Producer of Papa Machete. “There so few platforms through which films by Haitians or concerning Haiti can be seen and discussed, and Ayiti Images fills that need by taking them right to the people.”

The concept of this traveling film series is it brings quality Haitian film programs right to people’s neighborhood. In collaborations with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center, Little Haiti Cultural Center, O Cinema, Lake Worth Playhouse, the Cinema and Interactive Media and the Haitian Student Association at the University of Miami, the films gives Haiti a unique voice told by the people who live, speak and feel the culture.

Frank Mora, Director of FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center has been extremely pleased with the outcome of the Ayiti Images’ series saying “The film series has been a great success, has directly supported LACC’s efforts to promote Haitian Studies and has also provided an excellent platform for academic discussion about the various realities of Haiti and its diaspora.”

-more-

Screening Dates for Papa Machete and La Belle Vie: The Good Life:

CORAL GABLES
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
Shoma Hall
MON. APRIL 20TH- 6:30PM

WYWOOD
O CINEMA
TUES. APRIL 21ST 6:30PM

SOUTH DADE
FIU (SOUTH CAMPUS)
THURS. APRIL 23RD 6:30PM
MIAMI
LITTLE HAITI CULTURAL CENTER
FRI. APRIL 24TH
7:00PM

LAKE WORTH, FL
LAKE WORTH PLAYHOUSE
SAT. APRIL 25TH 7:00PM

FT. LAUDERDALE
AFRICAN AMERICAN RESEARCH LIBRARY
SAT. MAY 2ND 2PM

About Ayiti Images
Haiti, only 710 miles from Miami, is the 2nd largest immigrant population in Florida and in turn, Florida has the largest concentration of the Haitian Diaspora in the United States. With those facts, our mission has been to provide socially conscious films about this unique Island by showcasing documentaries and narrative films that are diverse in its points of views so that the larger South Florida community can gain insight to this fast growing population. Ayiti Images also serves as a creative and entertaining platform for its residents to learn about the Haitian culture and make room to exchange their own realities.
The series also includes panel discussions, networking and music. Collaborating with local Universities, community organization’s and cultural institutions, the film screening tour’s from South Dade to West Palm Beach in 5 days taking place 5 times a year with our aim to have an encore film festival retreat in Haiti.  Ayiti Images provides a platform for these award-winning films that are seldom shown in these markets by introducing their work to the community.
Media inquiries and interviews: Harris Public Relations -786-897-8854.

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