Production News: Haiti

Shelter | Written by Lee Schneider

It was a whirlwind trip to Haiti last month. Then I got right off the plane and right into editing. We’re preparing to show two short sequences from our Haiti production days at the Architecture and the City Festival in San Francisco. I just finished the edit, and the outputs, burned a few DVDs and am taking some time to write this.

I want to take a moment to thank Tom Fisher, Trevor Miller and James Lutz at the College of Design: University of Minnesota. We are collaborating with this great team of folks on a virtual exchange program involving architecture students.  The College of Design team’s collective vision made the Haiti production trip possible.  More on that below …

The Haiti I saw was a mixture of destruction and hope, of stagnation and powerful forces moving the rebuilding effort. I met dedicated people working hard to change everything – not just getting the rebuilding going, but also examining how we build, how we work with communities, and how we teach all of this so that I can be used elsewhere, not just in Haiti. I’m looking forward to introducing you to some of these forces of nature in the film: Yves Francois, who left an architecture career in New York to return to Haiti, where he was born, to build schools, and Alex Duquella, dean of architecture at a university in Haiti that was completely destroyed by the earthquake.  He is rebuilding it using his own designs and a palpable force of will. I met students of architecture who were articulate, motivated, and passionate about their country.  We attended a planning meeting at the Haiti office of Architecture for Humanity and I was astounded at the number of projects they are managing.

Travel is full of disconnects. One day I’m in a Comfort Inn outside the Miami airport waiting for a flight, then next day I’m in a hotel in Petionville that is far nicer than the Comfort Inn.There was often a disconnect while driving along in an air conditioned vehicle, the radio playing beautiful Haitian pop music, and looking out side and seeing settlement after settlement, thousands of displaced people. And all that more than a year after the earthquake. Here’s what it looked like as we drove a road near Port au Prince called La Piste.

I’ve posted a lot of images of the trip on Flickr, and some show the (small) Haiti production team in action – a driver, me, and Michelle Marrion, who was Haiti coordinating producer and also camera operator.  I think what we captured will show a powerful optimism and spirit – I look forward to posting the sequences here soon.

For now, we’re happy to be preparing to show an early cut of Shelter sequences at the  Architecture and the City Festival.  Richard Neill and I helped curate the film series for the festival. Every Wednesday night from now till the end of September, there will be great movies.  The first night, Wednesday September 7, will feature Shelter as a work in progress and also the great film Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio.  Richard and I will lead a panel discussion about designing for good to start things off.  Other nights feature Malls R Us, Unfinished Spaces, Urbanized from Gary Hustwit, and a film about Rem Koolhaus.

Thanks to all who helped us make these production days a reality. The College of Design: University of Minnesota provided major funding for this production segment.  Thanks to Raymond West Liden of Liden, Nestle, Soled and Associates, who provided generous funding for this production. And a big thanks to all our friends who donated to Shelter on IndieGoGo or through the San Francisco Film Society’s Fiscal Sponsorship program.

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