Haitian film students make documentary

A group of Haitian film students is making a documentary about their experiences in the aftermath of the earthquake. The dramatic images they captured on film are being used as a backdrop for the remaking of the song "We Are the World".

New York City is a world away from the earthquake-devastated country they call home.

The students from Haiti Cine Institute are in New York, editing a documentary about their experiences.

Andrew Bigosinski, director of CINE Institute,said, "Immediately after the earthquake, the students gathered their cameras and laptops at school, anything that they could find that was working and started to document the crisis of the earthquake, pretty much immediately after it happened."

The Cine Film Institute is in the coastal city of Jacmel, 40 kilometers from Port-au-Prince. The quake did a lot of damage to the school.

The students were torn between their passion for filmmaking and their own sense of suffering and loss.

Haitian Film student Ebby Angel-Louis, said, "You feel like crying, like trembling. You can't hold a pen, you hold the camera. It's shaking. It was really hard for me to see people outside."

Jocelyne Firmin said, "It was very difficult to be part of the event but also the one covering the event."

The students uploaded their footage on the Internet, and it was broadcast around the world.

Organizers behind the re-recording of the 1985 song "We Are The World" saw the powerful images and asked the students to be involved in the project.

The students were flown to Los Angeles, where their images were used as a backdrop for the star-studded performance. They were also asked to sing.

Andrew Bigosinski said, "I think the message there is that Haiti is not hopeless. Haiti does have a voice."

The students hope to complete their documentary by March. The 2010 version of "We Are The World" is due to air on US television network NBC on Friday.