Forgotten history: Gloria Rolando screens film Oct. 13

Acclaimed Cuban filmmaker presents 'Reembarque/Reshipment'

Gloria Rolando (in white) and interviewees with Haitian and Cuban flags. Courtesy afrocubaweb.com.

In the early 20th century, thousands of Haitian laborers worked the coffee plantations and sugarcane fields of Cuba, influencing the island’s music, language and culture. But when the market crashed, in the 1930s, many were expelled — sent back across the Windward Passage in the Caribbean Sea like so many damaged goods.

In “Reembarque/Reshipment” (2014), Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando revisits this forgotten chapter, recounting both the memories of Haitian families and the discrimination suffered by their Cuban descendants. The result is part Caribbean social history and part homage to the dreams and hardships of the immigrant experience.

At 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, Rolando will present “Reembarque/Reshipment” in the Danforth University Center. The screening, which takes place in Room 234, is free and open to the public. Rolando will introduce the film, which is in Spanish with English subtitles.

The event is co-sponsored by the Dean of Arts & Sciences; the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences; the Center for Humanities in Arts & Sciences; the Departments of Latin American Studies and Romance Languages and Literatures, both in Arts & Sciences; Programs in African & African American Studies, Comparative Literature, Film and Media Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, all in Arts & Sciences; and Vice Provost Adrienne Davis.

For more information, call 314-935-5175 or email esklodow@wustl.edu.