Black Gold

Synopsis

Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry - worth over $80 billion - making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.

Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.

Against the backdrop of Tadesse’s journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world’s coffee trade becomes apparent.  New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.

About the director

Marc and Nick Francis are award-winning directors and producers whose films have been both released in cinemas and broadcast in over 20 countries around the world. They were chosen by Harper’s Bazaar magazine as one of their “Forty Under 40: the household names of the future”, and named by the Observer as one of Britain’s “Rising Stars” of 2007. Their work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the UK Film Council. 

According to the filmmakers

”The Foundation supported us at a critical stage in the production process. As a result of their support we managed to complete the film, launch it at Sundance and subsequently get it out to the world. The work they do is crucial in breathing life into independent film. Viva BRITDOC!”

Sales/Screening Contact

Name:

The Film Sales Company

Email address:

Distribution Deals

• TV
  • ITVS (US), Documentary Channel (Canada, Australia and New Zealand), UK (Channel 4), YLE (Finland), SVT (Sweden), Against Gravity (Poland), NHK (Japan), DBS/YES (Israel), SABC (South Africa), EBS (Korea), Al Jazeera (Middle East)