Video: '40 ans après …..Roussan Camille (2003)' Trailer

Director: Mario L. Delatour // Amistad Films

This biography explores the life and times of famed Haitian poet / journalist Roussan Camille. The talented writer was born on August 27, 1912 in Jacmel, Haiti. He started his journalistic career at the newspaper Le Temps in the mid-thirties and would later become editor in chief of Haiti-Journal. Under president Sténio Vincent’s government, Camille was appointed First Secretary of the Legation of Haiti in Paris. In 1940 just before German troops invaded Paris, Camille left the city for Casablanca Morocco, there he wrote his famous poem "Nejde".
Dividing his time between Haiti and Cuba in the fifties, Camille befriended a number of Latin American writers in Havana, notably the Cuban writer Nicolas Guillen. While in Cuba in 1953 he wrote his poem "Havana". Shortly after Castro’s triumphal victory on January 1st, 1959, the Cuban leader saluted Camille’s poetry which spoke of the proletariat and the pariahs of the world. Camille died December 7, 1961 in Port-au-Prince.

This well acclaimed film is narrated by dramatist Syto Cavé and poems are read by Pierre Brisson. French with English subtitles.

Festivals and presentations:
40 ans après….Roussan Camille premiered at Vues d’Afrique - Montréal 2003. Festival Film Jacmel - July 2004. Images d’ailleurs - Paris October 2004. Haiti on Screen- New York 2004. Festival International du Film d’Amiens 2004. Regards sur Haiti - Espace Senghor-Brussels, Belgium 2006.