Olken is a 7-year-old Haitian orphan who had corrective heart surgery just over a year ago. He is incredibly happy and hyper, and he's got quite a sense of humor.

The Story

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Even before the earthquake that devastated their nation, Haitians had a great need for proper medical care. After the earthquake, that need has grown exponentially. The children of Haiti are so extraordinarily disadvantaged and malnourished that many die from preventable causes daily.

The Chadasha Foundation is hoping to expand its already heroic efforts in treating Haitian children by making those with means aware of these problems and how they can help.

Hopefully, by seeing an extremely small glimpse into the lives of Olken, Clint, May and Tamaka, you’ll make a decision to become actively involved in helping the mission of the Chadasha Foundation.

If you want to know more about the Chadasha Foundation, visit their website​.

Director’s Commentary

This project is my first experience with what we commonly call “pro-bono” work. This is a cause and mission I truly believe in and supporting it at my expense is really my pleasure. These peoples’ stories are so incredible, I can do nothing but marvel. In fact, even though I’d seen each clip that made the final cut at least a hundred times, three days after finishing the video it still brings me to tears.

This is the jacket design for the "Heartbeat of Haiti" DVD cases.

The Chadasha Foundation approached me to fulfill their need for a DVD to mail out to organizations and influential individuals in order to publicize a fundraiser they will be holding in June 2011 to retrofit a building for pediatric surgery for these Haitian children. I immediately said yes, as I knew I would be doing a lot of non-profit work this year, and this was a great chance to get my feet wet.

They have already asked me to travel with them to Haiti in May to film surgeries, and I write this post within 40 hours of making my first trip to Haiti for missions and documentary work.

I will be focusing on the stories of each individual involved in this promo in longer format features in the coming months, so if you are interested in learning more about these amazing stories (and others), keep an eye out.

As always, thanks for watching, and I hope you can see the heartbeat of Haiti in the work the Chadasha Foundation is doing.

Credits

Crew

  • Producer: BEN MOSER
  • Associate Producer: DEBBIE MACKEY
  • Director: BEN MOSER
  • Editor: BEN MOSER
  • Director of Photography: BEN MOSER

Special Thanks

  • Kevin MacLeod for providing royalty-free music for this video at no cost. You can find his work here​.
  • J.D. Frey of the Dead Workers Party for contributing footage. You can find out more about the Dead Workers Party here.
  • Clint and Kristine Doiron for all their help in producing this piece, and for their sacrifices domestically and abroad.

Equipment/Location

Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II with 24-70mm f/2.8L lens and Canon XH-A1 with Letus 35mm adapter and Canon 50mm f/1.8 FD lens in Knoxville, Tenn.

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