The Haitian Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind 2016’s I Am Not Your Negro is set to make a documentary that follows the investigation into the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise.
Tentatively titled The Hands That Held the Knives, the documentary will be directed and produced by Raoul Peck under his Velvet Films company, Deadline reported. The documentary has been over two years in the making and includes up close and personal encounters with some who were closely involved with the shocking crime.
Highlights include secretly filmed
footage from inside Haiti’s prisons and an unexpected encounter with a fugitive who was an eyewitness to the murder. Peck goes back to his home country to dive deep into the intricate web of Haitian politics, its entangled ties with the United States, and the widespread influence of corrupt business conglomerates and criminal syndicates causing dysfunction throughout the Caribbean with weapons trafficked from the U.S.Most noticeable will be the present-day status of Haiti, which sees ruthless gangs, who now control 80% of the Haitian capital of
Port-au-Prince, grow in power thanks to funding from oligarchs with well-paid lobbyists in Washington, D.C. The documentary is described as a “documentary thriller, in the tradition of Graham Greene or John Le Carré.”“I am eager to tell my country’s real story beyond the usual exotic clichés and preposterous clickbait,” Peck says of the new project. “I want to reveal for once, without holding back, the core stories and real reasons for Haiti’s tragic situation.”
With Haiti currently experiencing a new rise in violence and dysfunction with increased gang activity and the current
prime minister Ariel Henry being stuck in Puerto Rico, Peck’s documentary will show how Moise’s assassination played a major role in the current destabilization.“This is a story that only Raoul Peck can tell. A former Minister of Culture in Haiti, Raoul has been in the belly of the beast of Haiti’s politics and is the only filmmaker alive with the knowledge of the country and the extraordinary skill as a filmmaker to be able to tell this tale, which has global implications, as governments fall, one by one, to the ruthless pursuit of money and power,” Academy Award winning Jigsaw
producer Alex Gibney said.Editing for the documentary is underway while shooting continues in Haiti, the U.S., Canada, France and North Africa.
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