Last night was our fourth outdoor movie screening of the Haitian Presidential debates, this time in camp Carrefour, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Mayor of Port-au-Prince invited us to screen the debates within the city courtyard, and the fire department assisted in security and setting up the screening. We have a few more inflatable movie screenings of the first round of debates, and then we’ll be showing the second round in advance of the elections on Sunday.

The local production crew is learning the OAC Cinebox outdoor movie system well, and set up last night without much assistance from the OAC technicians. The portable movie screen, outdoor projector, and outdoor speaker system were setup with ease. Overall the production went very well, and several hundred Camp residents attended and watched the debates.

Today will be screening the debates at camp Champ-de-Mars, right in downtown Port-au-Prince. We anticipate thousands of locals to be in attendance at tonight’s screenings, and we look forward to updating the blog with images and a report with how things went. Below are some images from last night’s outdoor movie screening at Camp Carrefour.

Today marked the third day of the screening of the first round of the presidential debates, today in camp Villaembetta in Port-au-Prince Haiti. The outdoor movie screening was as successful as days past, as we worked with FilmAid International and crews of local Haitians in producing the event. Each day’s screening requires meeting with the local camp leaders and receiving permission to screen the debates, as well as arranging for a proper location for the setup of the inflatable movie screen and system equipment.

Camp Villaembetta was about 45 minutes away from our operational base, and we began setup around 3 PM. For a moment we thought the weather would bring rain to our event, and so we were prepared with tarps and plastic to cover the outdoor projector and outdoor speaker system if it started to pour. Luckily, we only saw a very slight drizzle, and all of the equipment remained safe and in working order.

In addition to screening the presidential debates, we also showed several films about voting, hygiene, and camp life.  The residents of camp Villaembetta were particularly excited to view their favorite Haitian comedian after the debates and short films. There were times when the entire audience erupted in laughter and cheer as (ironically), the comedian pretended in a skit, to be a presidential candidate, and found himself in several silly situations.

Overall, we are very happy with how the screenings are going. We are looking forward to implementing a few additional media items to the programming. Tomorrow we will have a live video camera on hand, as we will be inviting residents of the camp to come up in front of the audience and share their stories.  We will also feature a live storybook reading by one of our lead technicians who has been working with the camps for months in reading books to the children. We are excited to update the blog with how tomorrow’s events turn out.  We are thrilled that the technology of Open Air Cinema’s outdoor movie systems can bring educational opportunities and a moment of joy to the residents of the refugee camps whose lives were devastated in the earthquake that struck Haiti over a year ago.

Tonight we completed our second day of screening the Haitian presidential debates via outdoor cinema in camp Accra, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The outdoor movie screening was a huge success, with an estimated 2,500 audience members in attendance. The event started off by showing the short film we created in camp Accra itself. The audience was thrilled to see themselves on the big screen, as the film highlighted many of the community members and their daily lives. The crowd erupted in cheers as one resident after another was highlighted in the documentary. We are going to continue to screen the short film at the beginning of each outdoor movie event in the camps over the next week.

For tonights screening, we used the OAC Cinebox system again, and it worked flawlessly, helping us to have a successful screening. Local Haitian animators or MCs led the event with charisma, keeping the audience excited throughout the screenings. We ended the evening off with a screening of a short film by a comedian that is loved my many Haitians. The crowd erupted with laughter and cheer as they watched one of Haiti’s favorite comedies.

We have been training local crews to assist in the production of the outdoor movie screenings, as we have several days next week where we’ll be producing multiple events in one night. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but look forward to continuing to promote democracy and safety in the camps of residents whose lives have been devastated by the earthquake of more than a year ago.

Below are some images of tonight’s outdoor movie screening at camp Accra in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.