You can listen to our conversation about Black Zombie with Director Maya Annik below.

Haiti is not resilience; Haiti is resistance. 

Flesh-eaters. Walkers. The living dead. Zombies. They’ll eat your brains, your bodies, and then you could turn into one too. Zombies are an iconic feature of horror that have existed for almost a century, the earliest representation appearing in White Zombie (1932). However, how much do we really know about the roots of the zombie, where did they come from, and what does it tell us about our culture and our understanding of this trope?

In Black Zombie, writer and director Maya Annik Bedward explores these questions about the zombie, specifically its origin and reality, in relation to Haitian vodou culture. In an interview with The Rolling Tape, she discusses her experience in learning about the zombie, delving into Haitian vodou culture, representations of the zombie in Hollywood, and what she hopes audiences will walk away from the film with.

It’s a history never told, and in her documentary debut feature, Bedward corrects the narrative behind the zombie and establishes a non-Western framework for understanding their presence in history and in popular culture. Bedward films Haitian vodou practices beautifully, rectifying the outdated and racist view of vodou that exists in Western media representations. On why telling this story is critical to tell, she says: 

“I think it’s because, the repercussions of what a lot of, especially these earlier zombie films did, zombie films that predate Night of the Living Dead. They were very much connecting the idea that there would be this kind of nefarious, evil sorcerer, voodoo practitioner who turns beings into zombies, and that you should fear anything connected to voodoo or vodou, and voodoo is something to be scared of, Haitian voodoo specifically, and therefore the island of Haiti is something to be scared of. And how those misrepresentations and those racist tropes have continued to persist. Even if in contemporary zombie films, you don’t necessarily connect the zombie to Haiti, you still see in a lot of Hollywood films how voodoo is something you’re supposed to be scared of, and that it is used against you by some kind of evil sorcerer. So, that legacy still exists today. Vodou’s this beautiful, powerful religion that holds so much knowledge and history, and I think that how it’s been misrepresented and vilified has been a real horrific event that’s happened to such an important culture and tradition.”

This idea that your body no longer belongs to you — that you are no longer conscious of your desires, your hopes, and dreams, that you have no agency or autonomy — goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries of the colony of Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti), which was brutalized by the French to the extent that it was the most violent slave system, with the highest mortality rates. In vodou, you don’t die; you have crossed over. And in a time of intense suffering and violence through enslavement, death was the only way out. It was a means to freedom once more. To be zombified against your will was for your crossing to be altered, and now, your soul and identity are lost forever. 

Black Zombie also historicizes and places the zombie and Haitian vodou at the center of the Haitian Revolution, the only successful instance of enslaved peoples overthrowing the systems of oppression that bound them and becoming the rightful rulers of their country. Western media and education have intentionally obscured this revolution and its resistance. Since vodou was outlawed in enslaved communities, a secret ceremony that night acted as an act of community, prayer, and resistance on the precipice of revolution. As far as the zombies went, the story goes: when enslaved zombies tasted the salt of the Earth, their souls and bodies returned to them – and they joined the revolutionary cause. 

Bedward provides a call to action at the end of our talk, urging audiences and activists alike to be more aware of the tumultuous situation of Haiti right now:

“I think that I would like people to become more aware of what’s happening in Haiti today. I think right now things are… ever since their president was assassinated, things have become challenging. They’ve been challenging because of the enduring legacy of this punishment that’s been put on this country, and the film discusses that. They’ve become increasingly, exponentially worse since the assassination has happened, and I encourage people to learn more about what’s happening in Haiti right now, and to talk more about it, and to see how they can help. Because it’s really unfair what everyone’s having to endure right now, and the instability that they’re enduring. And I wish there was more discussion and more awareness around this.”

Black Zombie will be playing in select theaters on September 11.

Follow our interviewee online: Maya Annik Bedward, IMDB, Website

Interview & Analysis Courtesy of Mariana Fabian

Feature Image Credit to Kino Lorber