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Black Gold (2006 film)

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Black Gold
Directed byMarc James Francis, Nick Francis
Written byMarc Francis, Nick Francis
Produced byChristopher Hird, Marc Francis, Nick Francis
StarringTadesse Meskela
Edited byHugh Williams
Music byAndreas Kapsalis
Production
company
Release date
2006 (United States)
Running time
78 min.
LanguagesAmharic, Oromiffa, and English with English subtitles
Budget760,000 USD[1]

Black Gold is a 2006 documentary film that follows the efforts of an Ethiopian coffee union manager as he travels the world to obtain a better price for his workers' coffee beans. The film was directed and produced by Marc James Francis and Nick Francis from Speakit Films, and co-produced by Christopher Hird. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.[2]

Synopsis

The film focuses on the coffee growers of the Oromia Region of southern and western Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. It follows Tadesse Meskela, the General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, as he visits coffee-growing regions in Sidamo and Oromia (including the Kilenso Mokonisa Cooperative in the Bule Hora woreda in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region), as well as a coffee processing center, a coffee auction house, and his union's headquarters in Addis Ababa. He also travels to England and the United States in an effort to promote Ethiopian coffee by eliminating the numerous middlemen. There is also a scene where coffee farmers pray to God for a higher price, which was filmed at the Negele Gorbitu Cooperative, located near Irgachefe in the Abaya woreda of the Borena Zone. The Ethiopian coffee farmers speak about their lives, with one explaining that he is cutting down his coffee plants and planting khat (a plant containing cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant) instead, due to the low price he is getting for coffee because of the explosion in the number of coffee farmers across the globe, and the comparatively higher price he can get for khat.

The film also includes footage of the New York Board of Trade, a commodity-trading floor in New York City, where the "C" international benchmark price of coffee is set each business day based on supply and demand, and explores the effects that these international prices (which by 2006 were at an all-time low) have on Ethiopian coffee growers. Other footage was shot at the first Starbucks and the World Barista Championship at the 2005 Specialty Coffee Association of America conference in Seattle; and at a café and the Illy coffee company in Trieste, Italy. These scenes stand in stark contrast to the footage of the impoverished conditions faced by the Ethiopian coffee farmers and their families.

Production

In July 2003, Nick Francis and Marc James Francis travelled to Ethiopia and started making the film. The meeting with Tadesse Meskela, the manager of Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union, was a decisive moment in the production of the film.[3] The inspiring passion and determination of Tadesse, along with his continuous efforts to improve the lives of the farmers he represents, made Nick Francis and Marc James Francis decide much further in the production process to centre the film narrative around Tadesse's journey, his character functioning as a guide into the coffee world. The Ethiopian footage was filmed on two occasions (in 2003 and 2005), for six weeks each time.[4]

After the first shoot in Ethiopia, the crew flew to Cancun to document the meetings of the World Trade Organization, where pivotal decisions that affect Africa's economy and development were being made in setting the trade rules and where the struggle for fairer international trade rules was played out. Unprecedented, that year developing countries refused to be forced into signing agreements that were against their interests, and the WTO talks completely collapsed. After the team's return to the UK, they spent the following months developing a rough cut of Black Gold. During these months, the direction of the film took shape, along with the rest of the necessary shoots meant to develop the thrust of the narrative. In 2005, the team returned to Ethiopia for further shoots.

Although Starbucks, Sara Lee, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, and Nestlé—the world's largest sellers of coffee—are mentioned in the film, all five companies declined invitations to be interviewed for the film.[3] By the end of 2005, the final cut of Black Gold was done and officially premiered during the 2006's edition of Sundance Film Festival.

Music

Andreas Kapsalis, whom Marc James Francis and Nick Francis met during the Sundance Documentary Composers Lab, wrote the final soundtrack. In doing so, he used in part Mathew Coldrick's Ethiopian instrumental samples, recorded from Ethiopia. Joe Henson, Kunja Chatterton, and Mathew Herbert also contributed to the soundtrack.[5]

Awards and nominations

Distribution

Black Gold has been released in the cinema and on DVD in over 40 countries: in the UK (Dogwoof), US (California Newsreel), Canada (Mongral Media), Australia (Madman), Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Japan. The film has also been broadcast on TV stations around the world including US (ITVS: Independent Lens), UK (Channel 4), Japan (NHK), Israel (DBS/YES), New Zealand (Documentary Channel), South Africa (SABC), South Korea (EBS), and the Middle East (Al-jazeera). It continues to be screened around the world.

Black Gold went on to be seen in over 60 international film festivals including London, Rome, Berlin, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Rio de Janeiro and has secured major broadcast deals around the world including Channel 4 (UK), PBS/Independent Lens (US), Documentary Channel (Canada), NHK (Japan), and Al-jazeera (Middle East).[15]

Black Gold has attracted wide coverage in the media including features on CNN,[16] BBC World, BBC News 24,[17] Sky News,[18] Bloomberg, The Observer,[19] The Times,[20] The Daily Telegraph,[21] New York Times,[22] LA Times,[23] The Washington Post,[24] and South China Morning Post.[25][26][27][28]

Reception and impact

In the first few weeks after the premiere, the film helped to generate donations approximately up to $25,000. The dilapidated school featured in the film was built.

Tadesse Meskela, the main character in Black Gold, was able to increase the market price for his cooperative union's coffee. Tadesse Meskela was invited to 10 Downing Street, where he took his message directly to Tony Blair.

After seeing the film, the UN have invited Tadesse to New York to do a presentation about his co-operatives at the 46th Session of the Commission for Social Development.

Black Gold was screened at the World Bank and European Union, as part of debates about trade policy and development. The Ethiopian ambassadors based at Berlin, Washington, D.C., and London attended screenings.

Black Gold was the first film to receive funding from BritDoc.[29][30]

Corporate response to Black Gold

Since the first showing of Black Gold during Sundance, Starbucks sent people to screenings of the film in what has been called by one journalist "going on a charm offensive".[31][32] As the film became more and more popular, Starbucks flew Tadesse and four other African coffee producers to their Seattle headquarters for a weekend conference, which was seen by many as a PR stunt.[33][34] Further, just before the film premiered at the London Film Festival in October 2006, a memo received by Starbucks staff from the headquarters leaked to the Black Gold forum. The internal memo was sent out to inform all Starbucks employees that Black Gold was "incomplete and inaccurate".[25]

References

  1. ^ Adelman, Jacob (28 November 2006). "Anti-business films are the new muckrakers". Seattle Times. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Close-Up Film Filmmaking". Archived from the original on 22 May 2008. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  3. ^ a b "Production Notes". Speakit Films. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  4. ^ "Podcast 56 - Black Gold The Movie". portafilter.net. 22 November 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Soundtrack". Speakit Films. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  6. ^ "Black Gold". Sundance Institute.
  7. ^ Sissay, Lemn (22 April 2008). "Why Ahlaam (Dreams) deserved to win". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  8. ^ "Black Gold". Melbourne International Film Festival. 2006. Archived from the original on 5 April 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  9. ^ "Black Gold". fandor.com. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  10. ^ "Black Gold". ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/. 2006. Archived from the original on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  11. ^ "Black Gold". Rome Film Festival. 2006. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  12. ^ Kumar, Mathew (May 2006). "Hot Docs Continues: The rest of the week's picks". Torontoist. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  13. ^ "Black Gold". True/False Film Festival. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  14. ^ "Festivals & Awards". Speakit Films. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  15. ^ "IMPACT OF THE FILM BLACK GOLD: SOWING SEEDS FOR CHANGE". Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  16. ^ "CNN Report - Black Gold film shakes up coffee industry". CNN. 2006. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  17. ^ "BBC News - Live interview with Black Gold Directors Marc and Nick Francis and Kraft". BBC News 24. 2006. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  18. ^ "Sky News - Marc & Nick Francis talk about Black Gold, trade & coffee". SKY News. 2006. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  19. ^ French, Phillip (10 June 2007). "Black Gold". The Observer. London. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  20. ^ Hoyle, Ben. "A wake-up call to world's coffee giants". The Times. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  21. ^ Gritten, David (27 January 2006). "Britain shines at Sundance". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  22. ^ Scott, A. O. (27 January 2006). "Sundance, Now a Study in Paradox". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 February 2006.
  23. ^ Chocano, Carina (12 January 2007). "Poverty in that morning cup". LA Times. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  24. ^ Hornaday, Ann (8 December 2006). "Brewing 'Black Gold'". Washington Post. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  25. ^ a b Forrest, Adam (27 May 2007). "Grounds for complaint? Why a film about coffee". The Sunday Herald. pp. 16–17.
  26. ^ Macnab, Geoffery (24 May 2007). "Black Gold". Sight and Sound.
  27. ^ Dawson, Jeff (4 June 2007). "Wake up and smell the coffee". The Sunday Times. pp. 10–11.
  28. ^ Smith, David (5 June 2007). "British film-makers ask: what is the hidden cost of your £2 latte?". The Observer. London. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  29. ^ Kopp, Ingrid. "Your Film Can Change the World" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  30. ^ Evans, Chris. "Black Gold: storm in a coffee cup". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  31. ^ Carnevale, Rob. "Black Gold - Marc and Nick Francis interview". indielondon.co.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  32. ^ Seager, Ashley (29 January 2007). "Starbucks stirred by fair trade film". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  33. ^ "Ethiopian coffee farmer Tadesse Meskela Gudeta tastes Indonesian coffee Thursday at Starbucks' African Coffee Celebration". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  34. ^ Siel. "Black Gold: A Coffee Film That Has Starbucks Scared". treehugger.com. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
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