Calling all world-changers:
Join us 3/11 for a screening of Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?
6:30pm at 61 Local
61 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the door
Please purchase tickets here.
After a 7.0 earthquake brutalized Haiti in January of 2010, Americans donated a stunning $1.4 billion to major charities. Ten months later, filmmaker Michele Mitchell went to the Caribbean nation to observe and record conditions there, with a follow-up trip ten months after that. She and her production team found that half a million people still lived in squalid camps or worse settings, with malnutrition and cholera on the rise. The resulting documentary asks several pivotal questions: Where exactly did the donations go? Why are so many still suffering? Are they victims of not just the earthquake but also the big business of emergency aid? Through visits to dysfunctional and poorly funded camps, as well as interviews with Red Cross authorities, Catholic Relief Services officials, health experts, human rights activists, and others, viewers learn about how disaster relief really works and why often it doesn’t. The film lets Haitians tell their own stories, too, from weary aid workers to parents agonizing over how to protect their children. But this story isn’t just about Haiti – tragically, it’s about what happens in crisis zones around the world when good intentions, bad organization, and inscrutable greed combine. Contains disturbing imagery and mature themes. Portions with English subtitles. (51 minutes)
Join us for a screening of Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?, the award-winning documentary that “sparked a much-needed debate” according to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Isabeau Doucet. Screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s mastermind Michele Mitchell, Haitian Studies Association founder Jocelyn McCalla, and social and economic rights expert Melinda Miles. Screening will take place in 61 Local’s mezzanine, and food, beer, wine and 61 Local’s famous Kombucha on tap will be available for purchase.
Meet the Panelists
Michele Mitchell is the executive editor of Film at Eleven and the filmmaker behind the PBS special “Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?” which won the national Edward R Murrow Award for Best Television Documentary, the Gracie Award for Best Investigative Documentary, the CINE Special Jury Award for Best Investigative Feature and the CINE Golden Eagle for Investigative Feature, among other honors. Previously, she was the investigative correspondent on “NOW with Bill Moyers” (PBS), where she won a Gracie Award and an honorary citation at the Overseas Press Awards, and political anchor at CNN Headline News. She is the author of three books and has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and “All Things Considered” on NPR. A graduate of Northwestern University, she began her career on Capitol Hill. Currently she is working on a documentary feature about how rape became a crime of war.
Jocelyn McCalla served as Executive Director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, and of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network. He is a founder of the Haitian Studies Association and has served on the Board of the National Immigration Forum, the NY Immigration Coalition, and the Advisory Board of Human Rights Watch/Americas. Mr. McCalla has long campaigned in favor of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Haiti, and for the rights of Haitians abroad. He consults regularly with a wide range of leaders, governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations of various ideological persuasions and interests. Mr. McCalla was born in Haiti and resides in the United States.
Melinda Miles is an expert on Haiti and social and economic rights who has spent the last fifteen years working with Haitian grassroots groups, civil society and international organizations on a wide sphere of issues including environment conservation and food security; human rights and gender-based violence; capacity building; economic justice, accountability and labor rights; and much more. Melinda has a history of bringing together diverse stakeholders around shared challenges and coalition building including the Let Haiti Live coalition in 2000-2004 and the Haiti Response Coalition only days after the January 2010 earthquake. As Program Director at TransAfrica in Washington, DC, Melinda maintains relationships with Members of Congress and policymakers and represents TransAfrica at events around the country and the world, including the African National Congress’s International Solidarity Conference in South Africa in 2012.
Ideasmyth is a holistic creative communications, coaching and branding consultancy founded by Victoria C. Rowan whose previous professional lives included founding the multi-million-dollar education division of Mediabistro.com, artistic programming of the greatest living writers for the 92nd Street Y, writing for dozens of publications, websites and public radio including: Time Out NY, New York Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times, The Moscow Times and NPR. Through personalized coaching and workshops, Ideasmyth mentors and supports clients in creating and cultivating their endeavors, increasing their brand exposure and achieving their most important personal and professional life goals. Since 2000, her Independent Project workshops and coaching practice have helped nearly 1,000 writers produce many critically acclaimed books, theater, websites and other multimedia projects.
Film at Eleven is a media and production company that produces video news features and documentaries focusing on keeping the audience ahead of the news narrative. The company was founded by former PBS and CNN Head Line News journalist Michele Mitchell and British lawyer Edward Head in 2008. Film At Eleven planned out its first programming for the presidential election of 2008, which resulted in the popular web series “Common Sense.” The web series, “The Zeroes,” based on the book by the same name and featuring Forbes editor Randall Lane, was picked up for distribution via the web by Koldcast.
Film at Eleven enjoyed success with its film “Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?” which had a modest budget, but aired over 1,000 times on public television stations across America in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, the company won the national Edward R Murrow Award for best TV documentary in 2013 as well as the Gracie Award. The company also won the Golden Eagle Award in 2012 for best Investigative Documentary film for “Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?” and later the CINE Jury Award in 2013 for the same film. Currently in production are the company’s two latest film, The Water War and The Uncondemned.
A percent of the profits from this screening will go to the Filmmakers Collaborative. Filmmakers Collaborative (FC) has been providing low cost fiscal sponsorship to independent media makers since it was founded in 1987. It became a national organization in 2008, and is now the grantee of record for over 200 media projects across the country. Its mission is to sponsor and support the independent media community through fiscal sponsorship as well through programs that bring people together for learning and networking. These include their annual Making Media Now, the Boston International Kids Film Festival that launched in November 2013, plus workshops, internships and mentoring opportunities.
