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.
The soundtrack was composed by Andreas Kapsalis (http://www.andreaskapsalis.com/).
In this short film about the soundtrack (courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival), Peter Golub, Andreas, Marc and Nick talk about how the soundtrack came together.
]]>These are some of the stories you will encounter in AN INDEPENDENT MIND, a unique feature-length documentary inspired by one of the most fundamental and controversial of human rights: Freedom of Expression.
Enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental rights of all. It is the very cornerstone of democracy and underpins the values of any ‘free’ society.
But with the emergence of new threats that challenge the balance between the security of the state and the freedom of the individual, it is increasingly coming under attack.
AN INDEPENDENT MIND is a 90 minute documentary which is scheduled to be broadcast in the UK on More4 in the Autumn. The film has also been submitted to various film festivals worldwide and, we hope, will achieve a limited UK theatrical release as well as international TV sales. But it is also our ambition that the film will be used as a powerful catalyst for debate in this special year of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Directed by Gaylen Ross
Producers: Gaylen Ross, Andrew Cohen , Anne Feinsilber, Noam Shalev
GR Films Inc/ DOCFACTORY
On the banks of the river Danube, surrounded by the beautiful landscape of Upper Austria, lies the picturesque town of Mauthausen. Two kilometers from its town centre is a place that attracts bikers, busloads of tourists, parties of schoolchildren, people from all over the world. Tour guides come to work here every day, while nearby the locals go about their daily lives. This is a place where thousands upon thousands of people from over 30 nations were tortured and murdered. This site is the former KZ, German short for concentration camp. How does it feel to be a tourist at a former concentration camp?
How does it feel to work here as a guide, day in day out? How does it feel to live here as a local with the dark secrets of the past? And what of those who�ve chosen this town to be their new home?
This is a groundbreaking film about facing our ultimate demons. It is a contemporary yet timeless piece on the horrors that we have and always will be able to inflict on one another.
Stripped of the usual dramatic devices, survivor testimonies and archive footage this radical film shows nothing but says everything.
It will shake you to the core.
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