Haitian Heritage Celebration

May is Haitian Heritage Month! Join us for a special day celebrating Haitian culture, food, music, and films with local Haitian American filmmakers as our special guests. This event is hosted by Coral Gables Art Cinema and Shirley Auxais of RTJ Group. Your ticket grants access to all the events listed below! Click here to purchase your ticket. Admission is $4 for cinema members and $8 for everyone else.

12:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Haitian Market

Free and open to the public - no tickets required.

Visit the open-air market featuring local vendors outdoors on the plaza in front of the cinema.

5:00 PM to 9:20 PM

Film screenings, reception with food and drinks, live performance, and discussion with filmmakers

Ticketed event - click here to purchase your ticket.

5:00 PM - The Sweetest Girl short film screening with co-screenwriter/producer Yanatha Desouvre in attendance.

5:30 PM - Cocktail Reception

6:15 PM - Performance by multidisciplinary artist Inez Barlatier

6:30 PM - Madame Pipi short film screening with writer and director Rachelle Salnave in attendance.

7:00 PM - Ludi feature film screening with co-writer and director Edson Jean in attendance.

8:20 PM - Food reception catered by ZOEMAN Get It and Go and Q&A with filmmakers moderated by Shirley Auxais.

About the Films

THE SWEETEST GIRL

Lucias Goodman, a brilliant, seasoned, yet tormented law enforcement officer, has his life thrown into disarray when his loving wife, prominent and controversial journalist Margaret Goodman, is shot in broad daylight and ends up in the intensive care unit. Overwhelmed with guilt, while his wife is in a coma, Lucias is compelled to confess his most heart shattering secret. While Lucias proceeds to clear his conscience, the underlying threat that simmered in their marriage for decades begins to boil over to the point of no return. Lucias struggles to make peace with his past, which has life changing consequences in his present day.

Directed by Samuel Ladouceur, 23 min.

Follows the lives of Haitian female bathroom attendants working in the nightclubs in Miami. Relatively invisible, underpaid and under-appreciated, their stories leave behind a journey of triumph as they massage the patron's temperaments for tips. Despite the rising cost of living and now the uncertainty of COVID-19 shutting down nightlife, their remittances given through tips coupled with the larger contribution from the Haitian Diaspora fuels more than one third of the GDP in Haiti.

Directed by Rachelle Salnave, 25 min.

Desperate to send money to her family back in Haiti, hardworking and exhausted nurse Ludi Alcidor spends a chaotic day battling coworkers, clients, and an impatient bus driver as she chases the American dream in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.

Directed by Edson Jean, 81 min.

About Event Co-Host Shirley Auxais, CEO for the RTJ Training Testing and Job Center

Using her access as a Haitian radio and television personality, Shirley helps spread the word to her community about help through social services, local funding, and other outlets. Through her foundation, training center, and her work with the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce, she has helped many immigrants gain employment and computer training, and receive rental assistance.

In addition to our new releases, be sure to join us for these special limited, or one-time-only, screenings.

Check out the rest of our Special Presentations program!