In the year 2000, Richard Stanley was commissioned by the BBC to film a Haitian segment for their Benedict Allen-hosted documentary series Last of the Medicine Men, focusing on Voodoo practices. Wandering around the countryside and recording their observations, the crew witnessed at first hand that Voodoo, usually coined re-animating the dead, is mostly about interacting with and being possessed by otherworldly spirits; a tradition which has lived through the occupation and missionary eras and has just recently been acknowledged as a certified religion.

Stanley kept a diary of his trip which was published in The Fortean Times. What fascinated him were the many faces of Haiti which is a US military outpost on the one hand and a cradle of magic in the modern world on the other.

After the BBC documentary was aired, Stanley was given access to 200 hours of footage from the journey and from this he created The White Darkness - his own unique take on the political and religious boilings of Haiti. Like the filmmaker Maya Deren before him, he was also initiated into the priesthood of Haitian magical mysteries.


Richard Stanley | UK 2002 | 52m | BetaSP | English | Documentary