DACA Seminar Series- Film Screening: “Si Dios quiere, Yuli” (2015) Screening and Discussion with Dominican-Haitian filmmaker and actor Jean Jean

The documentary film explores the historical and current relationship between Dominican and Haitian people, amidst the context of the heightened political crisis that affects Dominicans of Haitian descents since the de-nationalization law of 2013 was passed.  The director, who is one of the more than 200 thousand Dominicans of Haitian ancestry who lost his citizenship after the passing of the Draconian legislation, made the film to “show the historical links between our people beyond the governments that persist on separating us.”

A Dominican-Haitian actor and filmmaker, Jean Jean earned the award of Best Iberoamerican Actor at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Mexico, by his first starring role in "Woodpeckers" (Jose María Cabral, 2017), the dominican Oscar & Goya contender in 2018. He began his career in Dominican theatre, training at the "Angel Haché Performance Laboratory" of the National School of Dramatic Arts. He has worked with the Grupo de Teatro Orgánico in several critically acclaimed plays, including "An enemy of the people" by Henrik Ibsen and "Paradise" by Pedro Antonio Valdez. At the same time, he took his first steps into the emergent Dominican film industry playing minor roles in films such as "La cárcel de la Victoria", "La Soga" and "Ladrones a domicilio".

After his training at the International School of Cinema and Television (EICTV, Cuba) having graduated from the Chair of Documentary in 2011, he returned to acting performing in films such as "Locki 7" and "A Dios que me perdone". He's nominated in the category of Best Foreign Actor in the IRIS Dominican Movie Awards in 2017 for his performance in "Cuentas por cobrar".

Nowadays, he continues to work as an actor, while developing his career in directing. He realized his first feature documentary film Si bondye vle, Yuli (God willing, Yuli) in 2015. It has received the award of Best Documentary in festivals such as the Caribbean Tales International Film Festival in Toronto, Rencontres Cinémas Martinique and the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival, where it also garnered Amnesty International's Human Rights Award.

See also: Warren Center Events, Harvard Events