Biography

Arnold Antonin (born 1942 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is a Haitian film director.

A man of diverse careers, Arnold Antonin is known both inside and outside Haiti for his social, political and cultural commitment. He was honored for lifetime achievement with the Djibril Diop Mambety award at the International Film Cannes Festival in 2002. He received the Paul Robeson African Diaspora best film award at FESPACO in Ouagadougou in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He also received numerous awards and accolades at festivals for his documentaries and fiction movies. He was president of the Haitian Filmmakers Association (AHC) from 2005 to 2009. Born Celesti Corbanese in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1942, Arnold Antonin is a film director and a university professor who also organizes debates and heads a cultural center. He was, from 2005 to 2009, the president of the Association of Haitian Movie Directors.Arnold Antonin completed both primary and secondary school at a all boys catholic school called "Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial" in the capital city of Haiti. During his youth he would regularly attend films at a popular theater complex in downtown Port-au-Prince. Antonin left for Europe after he completed his "etudes classiques" or high school in order to earn a bachelors and in 1970 a doctorate degrees in economics from La Sapienza Facoltà, Università di Roma.A man of diverse careers, Arnold Antonin is known both at home and abroad for his social, political, and cultural commitment. He was honored for his work with the Djibril Diop Mambety award at the International Film Festival in Cannes in 2002. He has received the Paul Robeson best film award three consecutive times at the African Diaspora FESPACO in Ouagadougou in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He has also received many awards at various festivals for his documentaries and fiction movies.

Antonin has been a judge at several international film festivals including Havana, Namur and FESPACO. He was honored for his work and for his documentary Women of Courage at the Cannes Festival in 2002.In 1975 he directed the film Haiti, The way to Freedom (Ayiti, men chimin Libete) a documentary critical of the Jean-Claude Duvalier dictatorship which was shown around the world. The film was the first haitian feature length movie and it details the Haitian people's search for freedom from the native Taino's battle against the Spanish conquest to the oppressive Duvalier rule. Antonin spent several years in exile and returned to Haiti in 1986 after the fall of the dictatorship. He created the community center Petion Bolivar, a center that promotes culture and political debates. He organizes debates regularly under the name Thursday’s Public Forum (Forum Libre du Jeudi).

When Baby Doc was overthrown in 1986, Antonin came back to Haiti. At first he focused on human rights issues, he created the Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (National Human Rights Defense Network, or RNDDH) with the support of UNESCO in December 1986. Also in 1986, Arnold Antonin constructed the Centre Pétion-Bolivar, a nonprofit educational foundation based in Pétionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. The non-profit cultural center subsidized, among other things, the production of documentaries and feature films by Haitians, about Haiti. Many of Arnold’s own films were supported by the Centre. The Centre Pétion Bolivar closed in March, 2020, after 34 years due to financial constraints which were worsened by the coronavirus pandemic. After the creation of these organizations, which are still important even over 20 years later, Antonin became increasingly engaged in politics.As someone who is very engaged in Haiti's socio-political scene, Antonin many times shows the counties socio-political and economic problems through the men in his films. While the women are portrayed as the guiding lights away from violence and political corruption. Arnold Antonin even created his 2006 film "Le President a-t-il le Sida" to acknowledge the stigma Haitians held towards AIDS and to encourage them to get tested as well as to view the disease as treatable.Antonin has produced and directed more than forty documentaries and two films, Piwouli (Piwouli and the Zenglendo) and Does The President Have Aids (Le président a-t-il le Sida?) starring Jimmy Jean-Louis who plays The Haitian in the American television series Heroes.

1942: Born Celesti Corbanese in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

1970: Obtains a doctorate in economics and commerce at the University of Rome.

1974: Made his first film: « Duvalier accusé », a black and white short film of 20 min. Shot in 16mm.

1975: Directs « Ayiti, men chimen libète », a film in which he tours the world as part of the mobilization against the Duvalier dictatorship. This 120-minute feature film is in black and white. It was shot in 16mm.

1980: His film «Un Tonton Macoute peut-il être un poète?» wins the award for best short film in Caracas, Venezuela.

1983: Receives a master's degree in economic and international law from the Central University of Venezuela while also teaching there.

1986: Found and directed the Pétion Bolivar Center and becomes one of Haiti's most prominent human rights defenders and politicians.

1987: Starts the Libre du Jeudi forum, a pluralist space for meetings and debates.

1988: Starts working on a video, creating a documentary on his 20 years of working with the poor.

1992: Publicly withdraws from the political scene, presenting a self-critical explanation, surprising all of Haiti.

2001: After his film «A nayif nan peyi kout baton» which in 1976 won the special jury prize at the French-speaking film festival, he made his first documentary on Haitian artists like Tiga: « Haiti, rêve, possession, creation, folie». A 52-minute movie, this film was broadcast by RFO and in the video section of the Saint Barthélémy Caribbean Film Festival.

2002: Honored at the Cannes Film Festival for his body of work and for his documentary «Courage de femmes», as part of the Djibril Diop Mambety Prize.

2009: At the Fespaco awards in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Arnold Antonin presented his documentary “Jacques Roumain: la Passion d'un Pays”. He received the Paul Robeson Award in the "Feature Film of the African Diaspora" section.

2011: At Fespaco 2011, Ouagadougou Pan-African Cinema and Television Festival, Arnold Antonin presents his documentary “The Loves of a Zombie or can a Zombie be President?“. This is one of his only films available in English, Spanish, French and creole. He received the Paul Robeson Award in the "Feature Film of the African Diaspora" section.