Overview

'Lift Up' follows two brothers, Clifford and Huguens, as they return from homes in Maryland to visit Haiti, the land of their birth, and to fulfill a promise to their grandfather, Andre Torchon, who died shortly after the earthquake. The stories they collect from Haitians in 'Lift Up' assign faces to some of the 250,000 quake victims. To memorialize Andre, the brothers decide to bring a kite back to the United States; kite-flying has long symbolized hope in Haiti. When the kite they build, using pieces gathered in the hills of Haiti, is finally flown, it becomes clear that the hands holding the string could be those of any survivor, and that the string binds them unbreakably to their loved ones above. - Written by Philip Knowlton