Country guide · North America
5 Essential Films from Haiti + 8 Movies Set in or About Haiti
Haiti on the atlas: the strongest films of its own cinema, and the films the rest of the world has set there. Every list is curated and ranked by hand.
5 Essential Films from Haiti
Native cinema in Haiti’s own creative voice — the passport route that earns visas and citizenship.
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1. Haitian Corner
A Haitian poet who fled to New York after being imprisoned and tortured under the dictatorship is haunted by his past — until he believes he spots his former torturer on the street and becomes consumed by thoughts of revenge. Raoul Peck's searching drama.
Curator’s note: Curator validation: native Haiti cinema candidate with Haitian Creole original-language evidence.
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2. Ayiti Mon Amour
Five years after the devastating earthquake, three lives in Haiti — touched by loss, longing, and a hint of the magical — quietly intertwine. A poetic, dreamlike fable of a country healing.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, sole country-origin evidence, or explicit web-curated primary-country evidence.
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3. Freda
In a rough Port-au-Prince neighborhood, a young university student helps her mother run a tiny street stall while wrestling with whether to stay and fight for her country's future or leave for a safer life abroad. A vivid, tender drama.
Curator’s note: Curator validation: native Haiti cinema candidate with Haitian Creole original-language evidence.
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4. Kidnapping Inc.
Two bumbling low-level gangsters tasked with delivering the kidnapped son of a presidential candidate to their ruthless boss see the job go disastrously wrong, sending them on a frantic, blackly comic scramble through Port-au-Prince. A pulpy crime thriller.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, sole country-origin evidence, or explicit web-curated primary-country evidence.
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5. The Man by the Shore
Seen through the eyes of a young girl whose family is torn apart, this drama evokes the terror of Haiti under the Duvalier dictatorship in the early 1960s. Raoul Peck's haunting childhood memory of a reign of fear.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, sole country-origin evidence, or explicit web-curated primary-country evidence.
8 Movies Set in or About Haiti
Outside filmmakers looking toward Haiti: optional perspectives for a wider journey.
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1. My Internship in Canada
An independent member of parliament from a remote Quebec riding suddenly holds the deciding vote on whether Canada will go to war, and a naive young intern from Haiti helps him navigate the ensuing political circus. A sharp Canadian political satire.
Curator’s note: My Internship in Canada is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
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2. Lydia Bailey
In 1802, a young Boston lawyer travels to war-torn Haiti to settle an estate and finds himself swept up in the island's revolution against French rule as he searches for a woman named Lydia Bailey. A historical adventure-romance.
Curator’s note: Lydia Bailey is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
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3. Ego Trip
A fading Quebec talk-show host, desperate to revive his ratings and his family life, concocts a stunt involving Haiti that quickly spins out of his control. A French-Canadian comedy.
Curator’s note: Ego Trip is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
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4. The Comedians
American and British visitors staying at a faded hotel are drawn into the fear and intrigue of Haiti under the brutal Duvalier regime and its dreaded secret police. A tense political drama adapted from Graham Greene's novel.
Curator’s note: The Comedians is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
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5. The Serpent and the Rainbow
A scientist travels to Haiti to track down a mysterious powder rumored to turn people into zombies, and is drawn into a terrifying world of voodoo, political violence, and the boundary between life and death. Wes Craven's atmospheric horror, loosely based on a true account.
Curator’s note: The Serpent and the Rainbow is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
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6. Heading South
In late-1970s Haiti, three middle-aged Western women vacation at a beach resort where they pay for the company and affection of local young men, oblivious to the poverty and political menace just beyond the sand. Laurent Cantet's incisive drama.
Curator’s note: Heading South is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
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7. White Zombie
On a Haitian plantation, a lovestruck landowner enlists a sinister voodoo master to turn the woman he covets into a mindless zombie, with monstrous consequences. An eerie early horror film starring Bela Lugosi.
Curator’s note: White Zombie is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
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8. Soldiers and Women
A philandering U.S. Marine captain stationed in Haiti carries on affairs with the wives of two fellow officers, until jealousy erupts into deadly consequences. An early sound-era melodrama.
Curator’s note: Soldiers and Women is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Haiti.
Selected by the FilmsAroundThe.World editorial desk
Lists are ranked for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and depth of engagement with place. Native selections require a verified creative relationship to the country; souvenir selections require an outside creative lead and a country-centered story. Read the methodology.
Editorial review: 2026-07-13
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