Deported, a Film by Rachele Magloire and Chantal Regnault

For the past three years, two filmmakers, Rachel Magloire and Chantal Regnault did a lot of research to learn the experience of a unique group of outsiders in Haiti--the criminal deportees from North America. Since 1996 and 2002, the U.S.A and to a lesser extent Canada were conducting a systematic policy of repatriation of all foreign residents who commit offenses on their soil. The extent of crime was immaterial--from violent to petty theft. When a deportation order is executed, Haitians victims of such repatriation were returned to Haiti--a new life begins in an unfamiliar and hostile land. They struggle with very limited financial means. Most of them have never been on Haitian soil or left when they were very young and many of them no longer have any family. They are unwelcome criminals, others view them with suspicion. The film speaks in the voice of the former offenders and their families. The film has been rewarded at the Festival of African Montreal as the best international documentary. Rachel Magloire was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but she was raised in Montreal, Quebec. Chantal Regnault is a French-Haitian photographer who was born in France, presently lives in New York.

Tags: Immigration, film, Filmmaker, Deported