When the Haiti International Film Festival returns to Hollywood next summer, it will do so with a pointed artistic focus: the powerhouse women who have shaped Haitian culture and cinema. The 12th annual edition, timed to coincide with the historic Dessalines Day holiday, is now officially open for filmmaker submissions.
Theme for 2027: “Fanm Djanm: The Art of Resilient Women in Haitian Cinema”
“The board and I are thrilled to welcome submissions for the Haiti International Film Festival and elevate Pan-African stories for the 12th year running.” — Festival Executive Director and filmmaker Jacquil Constant
HOLLYWOOD, CA, UNITED STATES, October 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Haiti International Film Festival has opened its call for entries for the 12th annual event, set to unfold at Hollywood’s historic Barnsdall Gallery Theater. Organizers deliberately scheduled the festival around Dessalines Day, the observance that honors Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the revolutionary leader whose efforts helped establish Haiti as the first independent Black nation in the Western Hemisphere.
The 2027 programming theme draws direct inspiration from Executive Director Jacquil Constant’s forthcoming feature documentary, which spotlights female Haitian creatives — a first look at Haiti Is A Nation of Artists – Femmes de Couleur is available here. The festival’s date also carries deep historical resonance: August 14, 1791, marks the Bois Caiman ceremony in Saint-Domingue, where 200 enslaved Africans gathered in the woods near Le Cap and resolved to rise up for independence — an event widely considered the spark of the Haitian Revolution.
“The 2027 theme really spoke for itself as this past August we had so many powerhouse female creatives on the stage and in the room. Haitian women have shaped the nation’s freedom, cultural memory, and community life for generations. Centering their stories on screen recognizes them as historical actors and creative voices with a celebratory spotlight, and also allows for the exploration of not only their suffering, but their artistry, authority, ambition, joy, and complexity. The board and I are thrilled to welcome submissions for the Haiti International Film Festival and elevate Pan-African stories for the 12th year running,” said Constant.
Founded in 2015 by Constant — an award-winning documentarian, cultural curator, and film professor — HIFF was created to push back against the global erasure of Haitian culture by amplifying Haitian and Pan-African voices within the cinematic canon. Constant’s own directorial debut, Haiti Is A Nation Of Artists, which offers an intimate portrait of Haitian artists creating transformative work in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, screened officially at Cannes Pavillion Afronova. (Haiti Is A Nation Of Artists trailer available HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVQvmXEk5sw).
Submission fees begin at $30, with categories spanning shorts, features, and documentaries. Filmmakers can submit via filmfreeway.com/HIFF. The full 2027 deadlines are as follows:
Early Deadline: December 14, 2026
Regular Deadline: January 12, 2027
Late Deadline: May 31, 2027
Selection Notification: July 18, 2027
As the leading platform for Haitian and Pan-African creatives and academics, HIFF has built a reputation for bridging continents, confronting bias, and cultivating cultural pride through film. The 2027 edition will again be hosted by Haitian American actor Béchir Sylvain (Jurassic World: Rebirth). Past honorees include award-winning author and Yale Professor Marlene Daut; actress and producer Tessa Munro (NCIS, Captain Tsunami); actor/model Rodney Charles; actor and creative consultant Jean Elie (Send Help, Wonder Man, Insecure); 2021 SXSW Special Jury Award recipient Kelley Kali (Hulu’s Jagged Mind, Lalo’s House); Meta Golding (Ransom Canyon, The Hunger Games franchise); and Jimmy Jean-Louis (Toussaint Louverture, Heroes), among others.
Beyond the festival itself, Constant and his team are deepening the nonprofit’s commitment to community building with a creative retreat in Cap-Haïtien, scheduled for January 11-18, 2027. The inaugural HIFF Retreat aims to strengthen the Haitian creative ecosystem by pairing the festival’s rich archive with northern Haiti’s history, ancestral memory, and contemporary creative life through screenings, workshops, and project development.
For more details or to apply, contact: https://filmfreeway.com/HIFFRetreat or hiffretreat@haitiinternationalfilmfestival.org
Cydney Prentice
Cydney Schiller Prentice PR
+1 805-660-9778
cydneysppr@gmail.com
Why it matters: By centering an entire festival edition on the resilience and artistry of Haitian women, HIFF is making a deliberate curatorial statement that pushes back against one-dimensional narratives. For filmmakers and audiences alike, this year’s program promises to be a vital counterpoint to mainstream depictions of Haiti — one rooted in joy, authority, and creative power rather than suffering alone.
