Overview:
The Forgotten Occupation, a documentary on the U.S. occupation of Haiti, will make its Los Angeles premiere with a special one-week run in Beverly Hills. The film, by Alain Martin and Roxane Gay, blends personal narrative with political history to examine a formative and often overlooked chapter in Haiti–U.S. relations.
The acclaimed documentary “The Forgotten Occupation: Jim Crow Goes to Haiti” made its Los Angeles theatrical debut on Jan. 10 at Lumiere Cinema in Beverly Hills, kicking off a one-week engagement through Jan. 16.
Directed by Haitian filmmaker Alain Martin and executive produced by bestselling author Roxane Gay, the feature documentary revisits the 1915–1934 U.S. military occupation of Haiti through a deeply personal lens. The film premiered last year and will now be introduced to West Coast audiences with a special red-carpet screening, followed by a Q&A, in partnership with Haitian Spotlight LA.
Blending intimate family memories with broader historical context, “The Forgotten Occupation” is framed as a letter from Martin to his grandfather. The narrative unravels a paradoxical legacy of a man who once welcomed American rule in a country still bearing the scars of that intervention.
“By tracing the roots of that power through an intimate family story, ‘The Forgotten Occupation’ reclaims the narrative of Haitian memory, love, and resilience, inviting Los Angeles audiences to see today’s immigration flashpoints not as abstractions, but as part of a long history of occupation, anti-Blackness, and extraordinary Haitian resilience,” Martin said in a statement.
The film’s West Coast premiere comes amid renewed national debate around immigration, as Haitian migrants and asylum seekers face increasing scrutiny in political discourse and border policy. In this context, the documentary provides a timely reflection on U.S.–Haiti relations, raising urgent questions about empire, displacement and democracy.
“Our cultural memory is, all too often, terribly short,” said Gay. “Alain Martin’s The Forgotten Occupation is a timely, necessary reminder of the brutal American occupation of Haiti that lasted nearly twenty years and sought but failed to bring a proud, independent nation to heel.
“But this movie is so much more,” she continued, “because it is also a gorgeous and moving love letter to a family, a people, a country.”
Tickets are available via lumiereticketsa.com/theforgottenoccupation. Daily showtimes will run Jan. 10–16 at Lumiere Cinema at the Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd.
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