Arnold Antonin

Arnold Antonin Biography

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haïti in 1942, Arnold Antonin is a movie director and a university professor who also organizes debates and heads a cultural center. Antonin is the president of the Association of Haitian Movie Directors.

Antonin has many interests and careers and is known both in Haiti as well as outside for his interest in social, political and cultural issues. He has been a judge at several prestigious international movie festival in the Third World (Havana, Namur, FESPACO). He was honored for his work and for his documentary Women of Courage at the Cannes Festival in 2002, during the presentation of the award Djibril Diop Mambety

What made him known is the movie, Haiti, The way to Freedom (Ayiti, men chimin Libete) a documentary against the Duvalier dictatorship which was shown around the world. Antonin spent several years in exile and returned to Haiti in 1986 after the fall of the dictatorship. He created the community center Petion Bolivar, a center that promotes culture and political debates. He organizes debates regularly under the name Thursday's Public Forum (Forum Libre du Jeudi).

Antonin has produced and directed more than twenty documentaries and two films, Piwouli (Piwouli and the Zenglendo) and Does The President Have Aids (Le président a-t-il le Sida?) starring Jimmy Jean-Louis who plays The Haitian in the hit TV series Heroes.

Here is the complete Filmography of Arnold Antonin. submited by Claudine Corbanese

ARNOLD ANTONIN FILMOGRAPHY

1974: Duvalier accused , 20min., B/N, 16 mm.
1975: Duvalier condemned, 40 min. B/N, 16 mm.
1975: Haiti, The Way to Freedom. First Haïtien movie)
1976: Naive Art and Repression in Haïti , 45 min. Color 16 mm.
1981: Can a Tonton Macoute be a poet ?, 35 min. Color 16 mm.
1984: The Right to Speak, (Radio Haïti, 1980) 15 min. Color 16 mm.
1988: 20 Years of Work with the Poors, 45 min. Vidéo.
1988: The Manioc and the Life of Maréchal, 40 min. Vidéo.
1989: Drugs don't Forgive ! 15 min. Vidéo.
1989: Children's Rights, 15 min. Vidéo.
1993: Port-au-Prince, World War III has already happened. 15 min. Vidéo
1998: What is a Union? 20 min. Vidéo.
1999: Citizen's Rights. 20 min. Vidéo.
2000: A Woman's Courage. 17 min. Vidéo.
2001: Tiga: Haïti, Dream, Possession, Creation, Flly. 52min. Vidéo
2001: Beauty against Poverty at Jalousie.13 min. Vidéo
2001: The Lantern Maker. 14 min. Vidéo
2001: Old People's Dignity., 15 min. Vidéo
2002: Piwouli and the Zenglendo . 90 min .Vidéo
2002: Cédor or the beauty of being modest. 39 min. Vidéo.
2003: Albert Mangonès, public space. 52 min. Vidéo.
2003: André Pierre, the one who paints what's good. 26 min. Vidéo.
2003: Ti Machin, the woman mechanic. 13 min.Vidéo.
2003: Youth, sexuality and Aids: three 2 min vignettes. Video.
2003: Youth Carnival against AIDS at Jacmel, 15 min. Vidéo.
2003: Remembering, Dahomeen Communuty of Vodoo. 13 min. Vidéo.
2003: All Children are Children., 13 min. Vidéo.
2004: I don't want to give HIV/AIDS to my child. 13 min. Vidéo.
2004: Economy of survival in Haiti. 26min. Vidéo.
2004: GNB against Attila, 120 min., color. Video.
2006: Does the Président have AIDS? 123 min, color. Vidéo.
2006: Children in Danger. 10 min, color. Vidéo.

Several International prizes for these films:

Member of several international juries (La Havane, Images Caraïbes, Namur, Ouagadougou FESPACO).
Participation at several Symposiums and International Conferences.
Wrote: « Matérial for the pre-history of Haitian cinema» (Caracas, 1982)
Honored at the Cannes Festival for his work and his documentary « A Woman's Courage » as part of the Djibril Diop Mambety Award -2002.

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