Fabienne Colas works tirelessly and passionately to support and promote Haitian cinema around the globe. This is one of the reasons she created the Fabienne Colas Foundation. Ms. Colas then went on to create the Montreal International Haitian Film Festival (MIHFF), which has become a key event and an important player in cultural diversity in Quebec in that it promotes Haitian films and independent author’s films from here and abroad. The festival is now entitled the Montreal International Black Film Festival.

Considered the most popular female actress in Haitian cinema, Ms. Colas is a woman of many talents: actress, scriptwriter, director, Founding President of the Fabienne Colas Foundation, and very active in her own production company, Zaza Production, which incidentally produced her last film.

In 2003, she was awarded the Ticket d’Or (Golden Ticket) in Haiti for best actress for her role in the film Barikad (directed by Richard Sénécal) and was also nominated for this same role at the Haitian Entertainment Awards in Florida. She has also acted on both the big and the small screen in a number of productions in Quebec, Canada (Watatatow, l’Auberge du chien Noir and Comment Conquérir l’Amérique en une nuit by Dany Laferrière). Fabienne is also an active member of both the UDA (Union des Artistes) and the ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) in Montreal.

Ms. Colas started out as a model and was crowned Miss Haiti in 2000. She has represented Haiti in numerous beauty contests around the world.

Fabienne is a charismatic leader with an unwavering perseverance and drive that lets her achieve anything she sets her mind to. Once she gets going, nothing can stop her. In the spirit of building bridges between Quebec and Haiti, as part of the Journée Internationale de la Francophonie, Ms. Colas launched the “1st Quebecois Film Festival in Haiti” through her Foundation in March of this year. This first edition of the festival proved to be a great success. At the same time, she received an honorary plaque from the Haitian Minister for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights, Madame Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassègue, for her work in promoting Haitian cinema and culture.

In 2008, Fabienne made her first film, Minuit, a feature, fiction film on voodoo based on a script by Sophia Désir and in which she also plays a leading role. She is currently working on her next film.

www.fabiennecolas.com