Dear Friends of the ASC –
We have a unique opportunity to invite you to a screening of the movie Black Gold, about the situation of coffee farmers in Ethiopia who do not receive fair prices for their coffee crops. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars a year are being spent on coffee by consumers, but coffee workers make $0.50 a day or less.
We will be privileged to have with us at the screening Mr. Tadesse Meskela, the star of Black Gold. Mr. Meskela is manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia.
This film was directed and produced by Nick and Marc Francis and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
If you have an interest in Fair Trade and social sustainability, we encourage you to join us in the Willard J. Walker Hall auditorium at 7 pm on April 3. This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required for this event.
You can check out the film trailer at www.blackgoldmovie.com
Directions to Walker Hall are available at campusmaps.uark.edu
The official Walton College press release for the screening follows:
Coffee and Trade Documentary and Star at University of Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The star of the documentary Black Gold, Tadesse Meskela, will be on hand as the film is shown on Thursday, April 3, 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to faculty, staff, students and the public. The showing will take place in the First Security Auditorium in Willard J. Walker Hall on the University of Arkansas campus. A question and answer session with Meskela, general manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union, will take place after the film.
The Applied Sustainability Center in the Sam M. Walton College of Business is sponsoring the presentation. The film tells the story of the 74,000 struggling coffee farmers around the world and the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world’s coffee trade. It traces one man’s mission to gain a fair price for coffee.
“We believe, as part of our mission to educate businesses and the public about world sustainability issues, that this film will provide eye-opening insights into the coffee industry and a fairer trading system.” said Michele Halsell, managing director of the Applied Sustainability Center.
Black Gold had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the Melbourne International, Rio De Janero International, and London film festivals.
The co-directors/producers Nick and Marc Francis said, “We decided to make Black Gold aft it was announced at the end of 2002 that Ethiopia was facing another famine. Twenty years earlier in 1984, people across the world had been motivated to respond to this crisis by giving aid. The difference this time was that Ethiopia coffee farmers, known for producing some of the best quality coffee in the world, were also caught up in this new food crisis. Given that the global coffee industry was booming, making record-profits for the largest multi-nationals, we felt this was a story that had to be told.”
The Applied Sustainability Center, an interdisciplinary initiative of the Walton College, works with a wide range of partners for the rapid development of sustainable business practices and to promote their application across the retail and consumer goods industries. In 2007, the University of Arkansas established the Applied Sustainability Center with a $1.5 million gift from the Wal-Mart Foundation Inc.
CONTACT:
Jon Johnson, executive director, Applied Sustainability Center,
Professor, management department
Sam M. Walton College of Business
(479) 575-6227, (479) 422-0060, jonjohn@walton.uark.edu
Michele Halsell, managing director, Applied Sustainability Center
Sam M. Walton College of Business
(479) 575-3044, mhalsell@walton.uark.edu
Dixie Kline, director of communications
Sam M. Walton College of Business
(479) 575-2539, dkline@walton.uark.edu
