Overview:
Haitian American filmmaker Elisee Junior St. Preux’s debut function, The Tropic Solar and His Eyes, will world premiere on the 2026 Tribeca Competition on June 5 as a part of the Worldwide Narrative Competitors. Shot solely in Cap-Haïtien with a majority native crew, the movie follows a Haitian American man who returns to Haiti to reconnect along with his dying father, and the road child who joins him alongside the best way.
His Eyes, will make its world premiere on the 2026 Tribeca Competition on June 5. The movie has been chosen for the pageant’s Worldwide Narrative Competitors which makes it the primary narrative function shot solely in Haiti to premiere on the pageant.
The 80-minute drama follows Ruben (Stevenson Jean), a Haitian American man who returns from the USA to his native Cap-Haïtien to reconnect along with his estranged father. As he makes his manner on foot to his household house, a 12-year-old road child (Blangue Machiny) gained’t cease following him. Ruben, who will get an increasing number of irritated with him, strikes a deal: the younger boy can tag alongside if he helps him discover a shortcut and retains a minimum of 2 meters of distance always.
The Haitian Instances previewed the movie forward of its Tribeca debut. Significantly hanging is the heat and serenity of the cinematography, which evokes an previous {photograph} — barely light and virtually dreamlike, but firmly grounded in realism. The visuals are crisp, and the immersive sound design is wealthy with particulars that place viewers squarely in Cap-Haïtien.
Filming in situ was a deliberate alternative for St. Preux who advised The Haitian Instances in a earlier interview, “You can not get that Haiti backdrop, that Haiti rust on the partitions, the structure — you can’t get that anyplace else however Haiti.”
Each lead performances are sturdy. Jean carries a lot of the movie’s weight by a kind of stillness, which is emphasised by St. Preux all through with lengthy and lingering close-ups. Machiny brings a lightheartedness that balances Jean’s sternness, and the dynamic between the 2 works nice. The movie additionally weaves in beautifully-shot flashbacks from Ruben’s previous in addition to footage shot from the younger boy’s standpoint, by an previous digicam he carries with him.
Because the viewer follows them by their journey, the 2 characters push one another in methods neither anticipated. The boy, who has no household of his personal, and Ruben, who has spent years avoiding his, step by step let their guards down.
St. Preux stated he wished the movie to problem how Haitian males relate to vulnerability. “Haitian males are taught to be rock laborious, monetary suppliers, and never weak. Some gained’t discuss very a lot” he advised The Haitian Instances. “I wish to present one thing we both dream of or really feel like is just not potential.”
That extends to how the movie paint Haiti, which turns into a personality in its personal proper. St. Preux has stated he wished viewers to see the nation straight, with out rationalization, and to see what he hopes it could possibly change into.
St. Preux, who is basically self-taught, started writing the script in December 2020 and spent two years creating it earlier than touring to Cap-Haïtien to shoot with a crew made up predominantly of Haitian college students and up to date graduates. The movie was shot en cachet in 2023.
The Tropic Solar and His Eyes screens as a part of the 2026 Tribeca Competition, working June 3 to 14 in New York Metropolis. The primary screening is on Friday, June 5 at 5:30 p.m. at AMC nineteenth St. East 6. The movie is 80 minutes and offered in Haitian Creole with English subtitles. Tickets can be found at tribecafilm.com.