Filmmaker Kevin Pina challenges the contemporary view of Haiti, revealing the hidden role of the 'international community' in Haitian politics. This provocative and lively film takes the viewer into parts of Haiti where few Western journalists dare to tread, and includes shocking footage of unreported human rights abuses, some which have been astonishingly conducted by UN forces. Pina's film stands out because it connects the tragic events in Haiti with what he assesses as foreign intervention designed to deter democracy. Learn the side of the Haiti coverage not seen in the corporate news media.

 

 

Pina's film credits include "El Salvador: In the Name of Democracy" (1985),"Berkeley in the Sixties" (1990), "Amazonia: Voices from the Rainforest" (1990),"Haiti: Harvest of Hope" (1997) and "Haiti: We must kill the BANDITS" (2007). Pina is completing the final documentary in his trilogy on Haiti, "HAITI: THE Betrayal of DEMOCRACY."

 

 

Kevin Pina is a journalist and filmmaker who lived and worked in Haiti for seven years before and after the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the installation of a U.S.-backed government. Pina reported extensively from Haiti on FLASHPOINTS, a radio program heard daily on KPFA, the flagship station of the Pacifica Network. He is also an Associate Editor of the Black Commentator online magazine and the Founding Editor of the Haiti Information Project (HIP), an alternative news agency operating in Port au Prince, Haiti.

 

 

 

Pina was beaten by an off-duty SWAT officer of the Haitian National Police on June 4, 2005 for his actions during a demonstration on May 18 where he and several Haitian journalists blocked police from firing on unarmed protestors. He was arrested on Sept. 9, 2005 and held in a Haitian jail for three days after covering the attempt of a corrupt judge to plant weapons in the church of prisoner of conscience Father Gerard Jean-Juste.

 

 

Kevin Pina is available to present "Haiti: We must kill the BANDITS" in person and provide lectures and discourses on the following topics:"U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and the Caribbean", "The Modern Coup: Media and Non-governmental organizations as tools of U.S. foreign policy", "Haitian history and the current reality", "Liberation Theology in the Haitian context", "Unembedded Journalism and Independent Media", "Documenting Human Rights Abuses", "The Role of the U.N. in Haiti", "Understanding the Lavalas political movement in Haiti", "Making documentary films under fire", "Using technology to start an independent news network to effect change", and much more.

 

 

“I try to focus on empowering people with the skills to critically analyze the commercial media and to act as watchdogs in the interests of international human rights and our own communities. I also work to draw the linkages and explain why we should care about other countries and how our government represents us abroad. I share skills and information that can be applied beyond Haiti. I also relate my experiences as an independent journalist and filmmaker living in Haiti the past seven years and a political analysis of the forces at play in Haitian history and society. “-Kevin Pina

 

TO BOOK a screening of “Haiti: We must kill the BANDITS” with a presentation by KEVIN PINA please contact HIP@teledyol.net or call 510-295-3174 for more information. For more information about the Haiti Information Project please visit: http://www.teledyol.net/HIP/about.html