For a team of filmmakers, Jon Bougher and Roman Safiullin have taken on a number of roles in the past year.
They have gone from being two Americans trapped in a foreign country during a monstrous earthquake to the hot-ticket item on all the news networks to two graduate students who were thrust into an academic limbo laden with thorny technicalities.
But on Tuesday, they hope to assume the role of message-bearers as they present their documentary film, “Bound by Haiti” in the Reitz Union Auditorium at 7 p.m.
The film, which focuses on two activists working in Haiti to establish orphanages and schools, features footage taken during and after the Jan. 12 earthquake that ripped through the Caribbean nation last year.
For Bougher, the screening carries a great significance given his ties to the university and the timing of the event—a day before the anniversary of the earthquake.
“This whole year,” Bougher said, “has been a wild ride.”
For Bougher and Safiullin, having “Bound by Haiti” shown at UF serves as an ironic triumph of sorts.
Last February, UF instituted a policy that it wouldn’t sponsor student trips to Haiti, which meant that Bougher and Safiullin couldn’t go back to Haiti to collect more footage for their film with the backing of the Documentary Institute, a campus film program that is now based out of Wake Forest University.
Then came what appeared to be the deal breaker when the two students were told by the College of Journalism and Communications that footage they shot in a trip to Haiti last March could not be used in their film, which was to be used in their master’s thesis. After a brief standoff shrouded in uncertainty, the two students were eventually allowed to use the footage and submit their documentary.
Although he described the episode as “unfortunate,” Bougher said he harbors no ill will toward any administration officials and expressed much appreciation for the UF community.
“It’s great to show the film anywhere, but it’s especially great to know that we’re appreciated at UF,” he said. “It’s a good feeling.”
Sky Georges, president of Gators United for Haiti, one of the groups helping to organize the event, said a film such as “Bound by Haiti” helps in his group’s effort to raise awareness from students about the issues affecting Haiti.
“I’m very excited to see their work,” Georges said. “I’m hopeful that people can see the needs of the people before the earthquake and wonder, ‘Hey, what are the needs for these people?’”
