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Black Gold

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by Kerry McLeod
Back in 2002, filmmakers Marc and Nick Francis read that Ethiopia was on the brink of another famine. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, which is now a global industry – in fact as a traded commodity it is second only to oil. How can it be that when the coffee industry is booming, its producers are facing starvation?

This film sets out not only to answer that question but also to find out how that situation can be – and is being – addressed. Through the story of Tadesse Meskela, manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union, based in Addis Ababa, the filmmakers investigate how global markets and the trade in coffee exploits its farmers and the developing world in general.

Meskela’s life revolves around recruiting farmers to his union, overseeing development projects in their communities and most importantly, travelling the world seeking a fair price for their produce. A genuine, impassioned and very likeable man, he leads us through the world of coffee production and at the same time outlines his plans to make the process fairer. This involves, among others, the deceptively simple step of cutting out the various middlemen – from the traders who buy the dried beans, to the roasters they sell them on to, to the dealers who buy the roasted beans. As he travels to the various co-operatives, and to meetings and markets in Seattle and London, we are guided through the complex and ultimately unfair business of coffee.

The filmmakers do some guiding of their own; we see the World Barista Championships, where presumably caffeine-pumped and wiry young men psych themselves up to make the perfect cappuccino much as a boxer would before a bout. The film then cuts back to the plight of the Ethiopian farmers and the whole niche world of western coffee connoisseurs is niftily and very effectively undermined. Equally, we meet the manager of the first ever Starbucks store in Seattle, who cheerfully tows the party line, little knowing the greater context of poverty and exploitation in which her interview would appear. The film is a well-assembled affair, subtle and impassive with nothing surplus to detract from its very simple message.

The film’s release notes state that at its Sundance premiere, a member of the audience wrote out a cheque for $10,000 and sent it straight to Meskela’s union. Yet the solution that Black Gold offers to its audience who may not have those kinds of funds is actually very simple and empowering: at a consumer level we can make a difference by only buying fair trade coffee. It’s not unusual for people to be a little sceptical as to whether that can really have an effect, but if Tadesse and his colleagues are to be believed, then the answer is yes.
Dir. Marc and Nick Francis, UK/US, 78 mins

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