CHOCOLATE COUNTRY
Credits
Director of Photography: Carl Wooley
Produced by: Jill Higgins and Joe Blotnick
Original Music Performed by: Members of the Loma Guaconejo Cooperative
Film Details
Release Date: 2007
Runtime: 31 min.
In Spanish (with English subtitles)
“Funny and intelligent, this film tells an important story of a political act within the struggle for survival”
In the isolated hill towns of the Dominican Republic, cacao farmers have been fighting a losing battle with the global economy for as long as anyone can remember. But in Loma Guaconejo, things are about to change. If the farmers here can win organic certification and market their product directly to the United States, they just might manage to turn the system on its head. But to pull it off will take the effort of an entire community.
Featuring a stirring soundtrack by local folk musicians, and an inside look at chocolate production from seed to pod to bean to powder, this thirty minute documentary won a Grand Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival.
“Its simple story of triumph... is very inspiring.”
ACCOLADES
Winner, Grand Jury Prize: 2006 Seattle International Film Festival
Winner, Empowerment Category, 2010 ViewChange Film Contest
Official Selection: Sidewalk Film Festival, Calgary International Film Festival, AFI Latin American Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, Dominican Republic Global Film Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, and others
This short adaptation won the Empowerment prize in the 2010 ViewChange Film Contest, created by LinkTV to highlight progress toward the UN Millenium Goals.
Read the accompanying op-ed in The Huffington Post.