FILM SYNOPSIS:

In a masterful move, Raoul Peck claims Alexander Sokurov's Moloch as his own placing a searing critique of absolute power within the isolated walls of the magnificent Citadelle castle, a symbol of the Haitian independance on top of a mountain outside Port-au-prince north of Haiti.

There is tension everywhere, President Jean de Dieu styling himself as an imperial monarch, rattles paranoid around the enormous castle, as isolated and fragile as one of Shakespeare's mad kinds. Obsessed equally with what the television tells him and the comely shape of his new maid, the democratically elected President enforces rules with an erratic terror common to many despots.

Peck's Moloch Tropical is a poetic account of how power, corruption and lies can disintegrate one's life and soul. There isn't a film that can represent the Caribbean's political situation quite like MOLOCH TROPICAL. It is an important and poignant film that shows all the wrong paths a politician can take, while presenting Haitian politics and how it fails to represent its people.

MOLOCH TROPICAL played to critical acclaims to all major international festivals including Toronto and Berlin.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY:

Born in Haiti, raised in Zaire (Congo) and France, he additionally is well-suited for the international following he has earned. He remains one of few filmmakers that successfully produce documentaries and feature films. No doubt his early travels throughout the world have informed his particular aesthetic as a filmmaker. Educated in Haiti, Zaire (Congo), France, and Germany, Peck initially studied engineering and economics at Berlin University. He worked as a journalist and photographer from 1980 to 1985. In 1988 he received his film degree from the Berlin Academy of Film and Television. Since graduation, Peck has developed short experimental works, socio-political documentaries, and features based on fact as well as fiction. His feature L'Homme sur les quais (1993) (The Man by the Shore) was the first Haitian film to be released in theatres in the United States; this feature was also selected for competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. A true internationalist, Peck divides his time between Europe and the United States and for a brief time in the 1990s he served as Haiti's Minister of Culture. For his international vision, historical and political insights, along with his potent artistic vision, he has been richly rewarded. In 1994 he was awarded the Nestor Almendros Prize by the Human Rights Watch in New York; and in 2001 he received the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award.