“Haiti’s story is always told by the West – we wanted to reverse the narrative”: Eddie Hutton-Mills on Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters

Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters is the stunning and emotive documentary from filmmakers Leah Gordon and Eddie Hutton-Mills, which, after showing at the 2022 London Film Festival, is now landing in UK cinemas. It takes as its subject the annual carnival on the island of Haiti in the city of Jacmel and uses extensive archival and newly shot footage and interviews to tell viewers the roots of the tradition. In particular, it uses the voices of the Haitian people, whether voudou priests or carnival performers, to tell its story, inverting the usual gaze of outsiders looking in.

Through this lens, it highlights how, although it’s a celebration with much joy and levity, with distinctive papier mâché masks and elaborate costumes invoking ancient myths and folklore, it is also a chance for the country to both face its brutal colonial past, dominated by exploitation, enslavement and massacre of the indigenous and Black population, as well as remember as its position as the first nation to rise up to end slavery. It also reappropriates imagery much maligned by the West, such as that of zombies – rather than symbolising something evil, for Haitians, the concept is both a reminder of slavery and a warning to never allow it to happen again. 

The Upcoming had a fascinating in-depth chat with one of the film’s directors, Hutton-Mills, about the journey to creating the documentary and how photography informed the stunning cinematography by director of photography Joel Honeywell that oscillates between colour and black-and-white to capture the beauty and spirit of the Haitian people. We also discussed how the carnival is a celebration but also serves a function for the country to remember and process its traumatic collective past in the present, and the themes that arise from the film of reclaiming colonial narratives from the pervasive Western gaze.

Sarah Bradbury

Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters is released in select UK cinemas on 11^th November 2022. Read our review here.

Watch the trailer for Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters here: