Two Haitian Filmmakers Honored at FIFAC in French Guiana

Haitian cinema made its mark in French Guiana. At the closing ceremony of the 8th Amazonia-Caribbean International Documentary Film Festival (FIFAC) on Saturday, October 10, two Haitian directors, Rachelle Salnave and Feguenson Hermogène, received awards.

Salnave received a special jury mention for “Double citoyen” (“Dual Citizen”), while Hermogène won three awards: a special jury mention and the high school jury prize for “Résurgence,” as well as the best short film award for “Nan Ginen.”

A father, a daughter, a nationality

“Double citoyen” is a father-daughter story. According to the film’s synopsis, the director accompanies her father, Édouard Salnave, as they put to the test the 2012 amendment to the Haitian Constitution allowing dual citizenship. It is far from simple. A staunch New York Republican, Édouard has not set foot in Haiti in more than fifty years. For his daughter to become Haitian again, he must first regain his own citizenship — and reconnect with a country his family left in the 1960s, during a period of political exile.

The 75-minute feature had already screened at the 2026 Miami Film Festival. Salnave was a Sundance Institute fellow in 2015, saw her film “La belle vie: The Good Life” nominated for an Emmy in 2016, and founded the production companies Ayiti Images and Black Lounge Films. “Double citoyen” is her third feature-length documentary.

A son, his mother and a silence

With “Résurgence,” Feguenson Hermogène delivers a more intimate and somber film. The 50-minute documentary revisits the Haitian director’s own past.

Its starting point is a childhood memory: when he was barely ten, Hermogène saw his father assault his mother. After three years of studies in Cuba, he returned to her to break that silence. The film takes the form of a dialogue between mother and son about male violence.

The film was produced by Sanosi Productions and Fastforward with France Télévisions. It had previously screened at the États généraux du film documentaire in Lussas, France.

Hermogène was also in the short film competition with “Nan Ginen” (2025, 21 minutes), which won the best short film award, worth €1,000.