Video: 'HASCO, la grande Dame (1988)' Trailer

Director: Mario L. Delatour // Amistad Films

HASCO is the acronym for Haitian American Sugar Company, a US company registered in 1912 in the state of Delaware with the intent of producing and exploiting sugar in Haiti. Though Haiti had four sugar mills, HASCO was by far the biggest one. The company was known for its trains which transported sugarcane on the 20 miles of railroad tracks it had constructed in the Haitian countryside. Filmed in 1987, 2 year before HASCO closed its operations; the film looks at the history of a mythical sugar cane mill which lasted over 75 years. Built on the outskirt of Port au Prince in 1915 with its towering chimney, HASCO’s huge electrical generators once provided power to the city. With over 3,500 employees and nearly 40,000 planters who depended on the company it was the second largest employer after the Haitian State. In the eighties when cheap sugar flooded the Haitian market from the United States and the Dominican Republic the company was forced to close its doors.

This film was commissioned by Mrs. Huguette Mevs proprietor of HASCO.

Festivals and presentations:
Hasco the Grand Lady aired on Télé Haiti, Télé Nationale and was seen in social circles.