By Alina Cho, CNN
Jonathan Demme has had a love affair with Haiti for more than 20 years. So when he heard about the earthquake, he wanted to help.
"I almost went last weekend. I've got my shots, I get on a plane, I'm going to go down, I'm going to help. What am I going to do?"
The Academy-Award winning director's passion for Haiti came first through art.
Walking by a gallery in the mid-1980's he says, "I was really overwhelmed by the creativity of these paintings, the excitement of the music and I thought, 'Wow, Haiti. This is very interesting.' And I bought a painting."
That eventually led him on a trip to Haiti to find more paintings. What he discovered was a country full of people who were as vibrant as their art. It was 1986.
"It was an extraordinary moment in Haitian history because Jean-Claude Duvalier, the dictator for life, had been overthrown by a popular revolt. And I was so excited about this fervor for democracy.”
So Demme made two documentaries on Haiti for the rest of the world to see what he saw as the Haitian spirit, including "The Agronomist," a story about Haiti's most famous journalist. Jean Dominique, the founder of Radio Haiti International, was a man who fought and gave his life in the pursuit of democracy.
"He was brilliant at the microphone and I thought, well, I can see why this guy is so popular and, in fact, I would love to cast him in a movie."
While Demme reels at scenes of sheer devastation from Haiti, he also sees what he says is their true character.
“The resiliency of the Haitian people is going to keep them going. And, you know, I still absurdly have this great belief that it's just not over for the Haitians.
Demme says he plans to go back to Haiti within the next six months to a year and his hope is to do another documentary on Haiti. This time, about how the Haitian people are recovering and rebuilding after one of the worst natural disasters in history.