ARTIST BIO

Edson Jean is a Haitian-American filmmaker whose work explores immigration, displacement, and the layered complexities of the first-generation experience. His debut feature, Ludi, premiered at SXSW in 2021 and established his voice as a director committed to underrepresented stories. His second feature, Know Me, a psychological drama inspired by the 2012 “Miami Zombie” case, premiered at Slamdance in 2025 and was supported by the Gotham Labs and the Film Independent Producers Lab.

Jean received Streamy and MIPCOM nominations for directing Grown (Complex Networks), contributed to Issa Rae’s Rap Sh!t on HBO Max, and created The Adventures of Edson Jean for HBO. A 2024 Third Horizon Forward Fellow, he has also been recognized by residencies including Monson Arts, the Peter Bullough Foundation, Anderson Ranch, and Oolite Arts.

STATEMENT

My artistic practice centers on culturally rooted storytelling that investigates emotional landscapes through a Haitian and Caribbean diasporic lens. Driven by a fascination with migration, spiritual displacement, and ancestral memory, my work blends folklore, and psychological depth to articulate experiences often left on the periphery.

My films explore grief, survival, and fractured family bonds shaped by displacement and silence. Ludi follows a Haitian nurse in Miami navigating the quiet pressures of caregiving and self-erasure. Know Me reframes the 2012 “Bath Salts” phenomenon through a grieving brother’s fight for dignity in the wake of public tragedy. These stories draw from family conversations that compel me to examine the emotional and spiritual costs of migration and how generational silence can mask unresolved sorrow.

I embrace a visual style defined as poetic realism to amplify emotional depth. My aim is to create space for contemplation, crafting narratives that resonate beyond the immediate viewing experience and encourage lingering reflection. My practice seeks to reveal underrepresented perspectives and invite audiences into a reflective encounter with their own humanity. By grounding my storytelling in the particularities of Haitian and Caribbean experiences and broader questions of belonging and identity, my work fosters empathy, and contributes to the broader conversation on cultural visibility.