Black Gold

            Tree huggers have probably heard about  but many aren't familiar with it and even more don't quite know what fair trade means, or why it's necessary. Despite the fact that a coffee crisis has been financially devastating coffee growers around the world, even as western corporations make a lot of money from coffee sales, the problem still doesn't get much coverage in the mainstream media. Black gold is hit the theaters. This documentary puts the paradoxes of coffee trade under a glaring, illuminating light. The film juxtaposes how the coffee drinkers of the western world gladly pay $3-$5 for our high-priced espresso drinks, fattening the bottom lines of our corporations while the crushingly poor farmers producing those yummy espresso beans barely make ends meet.

The hero of the film is Tadesse Meskela, an Ethiopian man who travels all over the world, trying to get the farmers he represents a better price for their coffee. We see him at trade shows, trying to find new buyers by giving out samples. We see him at the Ethiopian coffee auction, pointing out which big corporations are represented by who. And we see him talking to, getting opinions from, and participating in the decision-making for coffee co-ops in Ethiopia.

         The website for the film includes suggestions on how to respond to the issues raised and links to various relevant campaign groups. Film makers Nick and Marc Francis explain that we wanted the audience to see that the current international trading system is enslaving millions of people and is urgently in need of radical reform. We wanted people to wake up and smell the coffee. 

Black gold  is an eye-opening documentary about the coffee industry from the growing of the beans to the espresso that gets us going every morning. Showing the real story behind the world’s most popular drink the film follows Tadesse Meskela manager of a coffee co-operative in southern Ethiopia, as he fights to get a fair price for the work of the 74,000 farmers he represents. As well as providing an insight into the way of life of these coffee farmers and their families, Black Gold also connects them to our own experiences, and examines the wider implications of current trade systems by looking behind the scenes at the 2003 Cancun World Trade Organization talks.