Sierra's May/June 2007 Let's Talk selection:
Black Gold
A film by Marc Francis and Nick Francis
Review by Jennifer Hattam

What it's about
From the sterile conference rooms where "cuppers" gravely taste different brews to the clattering warehouses where Ethiopian women pick through unroasted beans, coffee connects the world but hardly unites it. The gap between those who set coffee's price and the impoverished growers who produce it--and one man's struggle to inject some fairness into the process--is at the heart of this eye-opening documentary.

Where to get it
Black Gold is available on DVD and is being shown on some public television stations as part of PBS's Independent Lens film series. Check for local broadcasts or affiliated screenings in your community.

About the filmmakers
Codirectors Marc Francis and Nick Francis are independent documentary filmmakers (and brothers) based in the United Kingdom. Their previous work includes Nuke UK, a television documentary on British antinuclear protestors, and other short films on social and human-rights issues. Black Gold is their first feature-length documentary.

Discussion questions

• What does "commodity coffee" mean for producers and for consumers?

• What obligation, if any, should large coffee companies have to help small farmers?

• Is fair trade the answer, or is it unrealistic for the Ethiopian economy to continue to depend so heavily on coffee?

• Why do you think efforts to help Africa have focused more on providing aid than increasing or improving trade?

• Do you plan to change your coffee-buying or drinking habits? If so, how?

Links

• Watch the film's trailer on its official Web site.

• Read a Premiere magazine interview with the directors.

• Learn more about the economics of the global coffee trade and why cheap beans don't necessarily mean cheap coffee.

• Follow the bean from the field to your cup and find out where your coffee dollar goes.

• Get answers to frequently asked questions about fair-trade coffee.

Take Action
Find out where you can buy fair-trade-certified coffee in your neighborhood.

Get involved in Oxfam America's campaign to help coffee farmers in Ethiopia and around the world.