The University of Miami School of Communication media initiative KozeAyiti and the earthquake recovery organization Konbit for Haiti will host a watch party for the first of the 2010 Haitian presidential debates.

The watch party will take place on Saturday, September 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Konbit for Haiti, 521 NE 81st Street, in Little Haiti (located in the Biscayne Shopping Plaza, off of NE 79th Street and Biscayne Boulevard). English translators will be available for non-Creole- and non-French-speaking viewers. KozeAyiti will be streaming the broadcast from Haiti live on http://kozeayiti.org/2010/09/15/haitian-presidential-debates/ and will post the debates with subtitles at a later date.

In the wake of January’s earthquake, the 2010 debates will be an opportunity for candidates to address key policies and issues, including reconstruction, health care, education, security, and development in Haiti.

Haiti’s first-ever publicly broadcast presidential debates on September 18 are being organized in Haiti by KozeAyiti collaborators: Interuniversity Institute of Research and Development (INURED), which is led by Louis Herns Marcelin, an assistant professor of anthropology at University of Miami, and Haiti Aid Watchdog (HAW).

All of the Haitian presidential candidates have been invited to attend the debates, according to the host organizations. The theme of the debates is “We are not voting for a person, but a program.”

Join The Launch Pad and Jaime Paredes for this workshop on developing your Web presence as a marketing tool. Paredes is an expert in Web development and design, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, e-commerce and databases, and Internet video production and streaming. The workshop will focus on:

• Web design: What every website should and should not have
• Search engine optimization: Easiest ways to get links back to your website
• Pay per click: Set up a campaign and get traffic tomorrow

The event will be held on Saturday, September 18 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Toppel Career Center library on the Coral Gables campus. Light refreshments will be served. For directions, click here.

The workshop is free to UM students, alumni, faculty and staff, and Launch Pad members. The cost is $50 for non-members. RSVP to [email protected]. For more information and to register (non-members only), please visit Social Media Training at http://www.socialmediatrainingmiami.com/.

Restrepo is a feature-length documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley and named after a platoon medic who was killed in action. Korengal was considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. Restrepo is an entirely experiential film. The cameras never leave the valley; there are no interviews with generals or diplomats. The only goal is to make the audience feel as if they have just been through a 90-minute deployment. This is war, full stop: The conclusions are up to you. The film screens on Friday, September 17 at 10 p.m., Saturday, September 18 at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m., and Sunday, September 19 at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. Admission is $6 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non UM-students and staff. General admission is $8, cash only. Free for UM students. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

Director Ridley Scott takes on the classic story of an archer who fights against the Norman invaders and becomes the legendary hero known as Robin Hood. Starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow, and William Hurt. The film screens on Saturday, September 18 at 10 p.m. and Sunday, September 19 at 8 p.m. Admission is $6 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non UM-students, and staff. General admission is $8. Cash only. Free for UM students. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

The UM School of Communication welcomes Danish filmmaker Laurits Munch-Petersen for a series of screenings and discussions at the Cosford this weekend. Munch-Petersen graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2003, where his thesis film, Mellem Os (Between Us) won a Student Academy Award for Best Foreign film and was optioned for a feature-length adaptation by an American production company. In the years since, he has written and directed the short documentary Forestil Dig on Danish novelist Karen Blixen (author of Out of Africa), the action feature Ambulancen, and the award-winning documentary Seducer’s Fall.

Munch-Petersen’s latest film, the hybrid drama-documentary Hurry Home, explores the lives of two Danish women whose husbands have been deployed to fight in Afghanistan. The film is currently making the European film festival circuit and recently won the Audience Award at the Paris Film Festival.

Different combinations of Munch-Petersen’s films will be screened each night, followed by a question-and-answer session with the filmmaker.  For interview requests, e-mail [email protected]. The films screen on Thursday, September 16 at 7 p.m.; Friday, September 17 at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, September 18 at 7 p.m. Admission is $6 for seniors, UM alumni, faculty, non UM-students and staff. General admission is $8, cash only; free for UM students. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.