The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M earthquake and estimated three million people were affected by the quake. Approx. 230,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless.

Khalif Mohtaseb was born in Qatar, started film making at an early age and graduated later at the New York Film Academy. He won the best screen play at the 2005 New York International Film Festival for his short feature “Optimistic”.

Khalif was hired right after the earthquake in Haiti to shoot ENG footage for two international networks. This is a montage of his personal footage he shot of the aftermath during his spare time, in and around Port au Prince. They were in Haiti for a total of 6 days in which 2 of those days they spent traveling to and from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

It’s always hard to imagine situations people are in after such dramatic catastrophes. What I like about this video is the fact how Khalif doesn’t focus on dreadful pictures but much more on the human side, impressions of peoples faces and slow motions of landscape shots. By using a Kessler Pocket Dolly he creates special moods throughout the movie when the camera slowly moves from one side to the other.

Lenses used:
Canon 16-35 f2.8 L-series
Canon 70-200 f2.8 L-series
Canon 24-70 f2.8 L-series

Locations: Port au Prince, Leogane, Carrefour
Producer: Susan Modaress
Music: Eric Wollo wollo.com
Editing/ Color grading: Khalid Mohtaseb

More info on his website nextlevelpictures.com