Timothy K Fitzgerald/Visit Films
MIAMI — Several Haitian movies are slated for screenings during the 39th annual Miami Film Festival that kicked off last Friday showcasing dozens of films, viewable both in-person and virtually.
“Parsley,” directed by Dominican director José María Cabral, explores the relationship between a Haitian woman and her Dominican husband in the midst of the 1937 massacre called “El Corte,” or “the cutting,” when thousands of Haitians along the border were slaughtered by Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina.
“I just wanted to have a human story where people could identify in a way and see how decisions made by a dictatorship really affected communities, affected families, affected human beings independently of where they are from,” said Cabral in an interview with The Miami Herald.
“Parsley” is showing on the evening of Mar. 7 and will be available to stream online the following day.
On Mar. 8, the festival will feature “Madame Pipi,” a documentary by director Rachelle Salnave that looks at the lives of Haitian women bathroom attendants in Miami’s nightclubs.
“Freda,” a film by Jessica Généus that garnered Oscar nomination buzz last year, will show in-person on Mar. 12. Généus will participate in a Q&A following the showing.
Looking at the life of a university student in the midst of a political tumult, Freda has garnered praise from Francis Ford Coppola and is Haiti’s official selection for the upcoming Academy Awards.