Jean Michel Dilone came into this world in July of 1971 and was raised in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince by his single, hard-working mother. After receiving his High School Diploma in 1992, Jean Michel went on to study politics in college. Only wanting to help his country, Jean Michel was arrested in 1995 for attending political meetings.

During the first week of his incarceration, Jean Michel was kept in handcuffs and stripped of his rights to have visitors or to even take a shower. From there he was transferred to the National Penitentiary, where he spent the next 1381 days of his life.Then, on the 1382nd day of his incarceration, Jean Michel was given his freedom back. Upon his release Jean Michel was given a government job as the Overseer to the Haitian Presidential Election.

In 2003 Jean Michel left his beloved Haiti and has been living in Boston ever since. Here, Jean Michel went back to school and graduated from the Digital Filmmaking Program at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University (CDIABU). Now Jean Michel lives a much better life with his two sons.

Even with all his success in Boston, Jean Michel still loves his native homeland, Haiti, and misses it greatly. Jean Michel hopes to use the land his grandmother left him upon her death in 2008 to build an elementary school.