Independent Lens
The Big Payback
A rookie alderwoman in Evanston, Illinois led the passage of the first tax-funded reparations bill for Black Americans and stirs up a debate about the debt owed from the U.S.
When the Drum Is Beating
The music of Haiti's oldest and best-known band and the memories of its founder and leader, Ulric Pierre-Louis.
- Series
- Independent Lens
- Premiere Date
- April 12, 2012
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Series and Special Projects
Producer/Director
Whitney Dow
Whitney Dow is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and educator, whose work has focused on race and identity for more than two decades. His directorial credits include I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, POV’s Two Towns of Jasper, and the Independent Lens documentaries When the Drum is Beating and The Big Payback.
- Other ITVS Films
- The Big Payback
- Two Towns of Jasper
- Unfinished Country
We fund untold stories for public media.
Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.
The Film
When the Drum Is Beating explores Haiti's complex past and present through the music of the country's oldest and best-known band and the memories of its founder and leader, Ulric Pierre-Louis. As Haiti disintegrates around them, the three generations of musicians who make up Septentrional struggle to persevere and prevent this national treasure from being lost forever.
