Stateless

In 2013 the Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic (DR) upheld legislation that stripped citizenship from individuals of Haitian heritage born in that country. Hispaniola is a feature documentary that will take audiences on a cinematic journey through the day-to-day lives of people directly impacted by these new laws. There is Elena Lorac, a young Dominican of Haitian descent whose fall into statelessness has rendered her invisible, forced to function below the radar and avoid confrontation when attacked because of her ancestry; Amelia Deschamps is a Dominican journalist who has spoken out against these laws and unexpectedly finds herself the target of death threats from anti-Haitian right-wing nationalists; and contrasting this view is Ramón Narpier, a University professor who wishes people would better understand the kind of economic and social pressure his country faces with the constant stream of poverty stricken Haitians entering the Dominican Republic. Interweaving their present day stories with dramatic personal accounts of the 1937 Parsley Massacre (over 30,000 Haitians killed at the hands of Dominican soldiers), the film will beautifully juxtapose how past and present converge as it explores themes of genocide and otherness. Hispaniola hopes to provide audiences with a spellbinding visual narrative that reflects on the larger questions of how imposed borders, citizenship and racial identity define us and may seal our fate.