Lunise Cerin
Lunise Cerin is a queer, Haitian filmmaker, born in Philadelphia and raised between both Port-au-Prince, Haiti and the US. She loves to tell stories of black people’s pursuit of self-expression, liberation and love. After receiving her BS in sociology, with a minor in photography from Saint Joseph’s University, Cerin married her love of people and images by pivoting to film.
In 2012 Cerin moved to Los Angeles where she began her career in media at the SVOD platform Black&Sexy TV. There she worked as a series writer, producer, director, and self-taught editor for 6 years. Cerin’s second short film 25 Frames which she wrote, directed, and edited recently premiered at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival and also screened at festivals in the UK and the US. She has also done work as a documentary Editor and Story producer for films like "Madan Sara" and "The Fight for Haiti". Cerin is an MFA candidate in Columbia University’s Screenwriting MFA program, where she was admitted with the Bridges Larson Foundation Fellowship.
Awarded Grants
2023
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
Related grantees
Overview
Lunise Cerin’s project, Miwa (Haitian Creole for “mirror”), will trace the sounds and stories of the Haitian diaspora in a live musical-visual production. Intertwining traditional folk songs from Haitian and Black American traditions with archival footage of Haitian elders, as well as new footage following Haitians in America and in Haiti, this work will map the rituals that bind generations of Haitian women, at home and in the diaspora, bridging roots and forging new paths.