For a group of film students from Haiti, New York City is a world away from the earthquake-devastated country they call home.

 

The students are currently in New York, putting together a documentary about their experiences in the aftermath of the deadly quake.

 

The Cini Institute, in Jacmel, was heavily damaged. School Director Andrew Bigosinski says the students salvaged whatever they could, and started filming.

 

[Andrew Bigosinski, Cine Institute School Director]:

"Immediately after the earthquake, the students gathered their cameras and laptops at the school, anything that they could find that was working, and started to document the crisis of the earthquake, pretty much immediately after it happened."

 

It was a confronting experience for the students, many of whom had lost loved ones.

 

28 year old Ebby Angel-Louis says the biggest challenge was seeing families sleep in the streets, as their homes lay in ruins. 

 

[ Ebby Angel-Louis, Film Student]:

"And so you feel like crying, like trembling, you can't hold a pen, you hold the camera, it's shaking. It was really hard for me to see people outside."

 

Organizers behind the re-make of the song 'We Are The World' saw the powerful images, and asked the students whether they'd like to be involved.

 

[Jocelyn Firmin, Film Student]:

“We could not believe what was happening to us. We were like: 'we're going to Hollywood!? To the remaking of 'We Are The World''?”

 

The students were flown to Los Angeles, where their images were used as a backdrop for the star-studded performance.  While documenting their experience, the students were also asked to sing. 

 

[Andrew Bigosinski, Cine Institute School Director]:

"I think the message there is that Haiti is not helpless. Haiti does have a voice.”

 

The students hope to complete their documentary by March, while the remake of 'We Are The World' is due to air on American television network NBC on February 12.