Michele Mitchell, a documentary film maker from New York, will be showing her film, Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?, at CS104, in the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, Thursday, May 17 at 7pm. Ms. Mitchell, by documenting two visits to Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, examines and exposes conditions in Haiti and asks some sobering questions.
The film brings out the scandal of the miserable conditions in which so many Haitians are living after two years of supposed re-construction. It puts forth that the millions of people who gave billions of dollars should wonder where their donations went. It is clear from the film coverage that standards for delivering relief have not been met. Haiti: Where Did the Money Go? asks the questions: Why are at least 600,000 Haitians still living in squalor? Why did so much money buy so little relief? How is it possible that a massive “relief enterprise” could be built on the suffering of Haitians? Why are so many non-governmental organizations not held accountable to anyone? The film asks North American and other donors: Do you know how your donation was spent?
Haiti: Where Did the Money Go? gives viewers a glimpse of the crowded camps where thousands of families live under tattered tarps beside overflowing latrines. Mitchell visits board rooms of relief organizations and asks NGOs why conditions in Haiti continue to deteriorate. Mitchell, who visited camps in Haiti in fall of 2010 and again in fall of 2011, comments, “I was shocked to see how much worse things had gotten.”
Michele Mitchell is the executive editor of Film at Eleven, a New York-based media production company. She is an award-winning broadcast journalist known for her political investigative work, which has taken her around the world. She began her career on television with CNN Headline News, where she was the political anchor from 2000-2003. Mitchell has reported extensively from all over the USA, as well as Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Jordan, West Bank, Israel, Lebanon and Libya. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Besides Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?, she has produced short web documentaries, and executive produced a number of popular web series.
The presentation of Haiti: Where Did the Money Go? is part of a Maritime tour and Canadian premiere of the film. The tour is organized by Cooper Institute (PEI). The Sydney showing is sponsored by Cape Breton University’s Centre for International Studies. The film is free, but donations are appreciated.
