Massacre River

In 2013, the Dominican Republic’s constitutional court stripped citizenship from persons of Haitian descent. The impact is directly felt by Pikilina, who survives as a sex worker yet dreams of a better life for her children as she faces a virtually impossible challenge of obtaining documentation. The title of Mountainfilm Festival Director Suzan Beraza’s new film refers to the killing of as many as 20,000 Haitians on the Haitian/Dominican border in 1937, a little-remembered act of genocide, just as today’s ongoing ethnic cleansing in the Dominican Republic is scarcely noted in a world where there is a seemingly unending supply of stateless refugees. Chillingly, the earlier massacre is revealed to be a prelude to an event that unfolds before our eyes — and not only on the island of Hispaniola. In telling Pikilina’s story, Beraza simultaneously captures the human toll and recognizes the scale of the global humanitarian crisis.