“The Heroes of the Massacre River” brings Haiti’s canal story to Hollywood
“The Heroes of the Massacre River,” the documentary chronicling the citizen-led construction of the Ouanaminthe canal, has been named an official selection of the 11th Annual Haiti International Film Festival (HIFF), taking place Saturday, August 15,2026, at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood, California.
The film is included in HIFF’s Feature Documentary category, one of 16 official selections spanning documentary, narrative, short, and experimental work chosen for this year’s festival. The selection was championed by Prof. Yanatha Desouvre, and organizers credit Jacquil Constant, HIFF’s founder, and the festival team for continuing to open space for Haitian storytelling on an international stage.
A Story of Grassroots Mobilization
Directed by Samuel Dameus and presented by BOYO FILMS, the 1-hour-20-minute documentary traces the pioneers behind the Canal of Ouanaminthe, a project that mobilized farmers, workers, and members of the Haitian diaspora around a shared goal of economic autonomy and national sovereignty. The film draws a line between that contemporary civic movement and the historical memory of the Massacre River, weaving archival material with firsthand testimony.
The documentary follows the investigative journey of Max Angie Clervil and features Dr. Bertrhude Albert, Dr. Naismy-Mary Fleurant, architect Wideline Pierre, economist Etzer Emile, and canal workers Milourie Sylfrard, Theodore Johnson, and Joseph Pressoir among its central figures.
The Hollywood selection follows a string of recognitions for the film this year. In May 2026, it won the Film for Peace Best Film, Caribbean Award from the International Peace Alliance, with the formal presentation set for October 24 in Toronto during the Peace Ambassadors Awards Gala & Grand Ball. The film premiered in May at the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami and has also been featured in a screening and director discussion at Stanford University.
A Canal, a Movement, a Story Told by Its Own People
For Dameus and the BOYO FILMS team, the Hollywood selection extends the reach of a story that began along Haiti’s northern border and grew into a national and diasporic movement. Bringing the canal builders’ story to a stage like HIFF places a homegrown act of collective resolve alongside other works asking, in the festival’s words, who gets to tell Haiti’s story, and answering it with Haitians telling their own.
